Comment on Humans can be tracked with unique 'fingerprint' based on how their bodies block Wi-Fi signals

• unmagical@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Probably not.

  This kind of thing relies on the fact that the emitter and environments are static, impacting the propagation of the signals in a predictable way and that each person, having a unique physique, consistently interferes with that propagation in the same way. It’s a tool that reports “the interference in this room looks like the same interference observed in these past cases.”

  Search and rescue is a very dynamic environment, with no opportunity to establish a local baseline, and with a high likelihood that the physiological signal you are looking for has been altered (such as by broken or severed limbs).

  There are some other WiFi sniffing technologies that might be more useful for S&R such as movement detection, but I’m not sure if that will work as well when the broadcaster is outside the environment (as the more rubble between the emitter and the target the weaker your signal from reflections against the rubble).

  Don’t think of this as being able to see through walls like with a futuristic camera, think of this as AI assisted anomaly detection in signal processing (which is exactly what the researchers are doing).

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  • nooneescapesthelaw@mander.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    …nasa.gov/FINDER-Finds-Its-Way-into-Rescuers-Tool…

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    • unmagical@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Microwave based ground penetrating radar is actually different from WiFi. Also the technology referenced in the link is a motion based body locator, not an identity recognition device.

      This is different technology doing different things than what the original article was talking about.

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• Revan343@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Being able to scan and model a 3D environment using wifi? Sure. Wifi-fingerprinting the people in the scan? Why?

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  • Jarix@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I mean I don’t understand this as a lay person, so if it doesn’t work then fair enough, but if wifi signals can identify human beings, and pets, when a building collapses better than other methods, or even augment the capabilities already used, then at least there’s is some benefit from this technique. It’s not going to disappear, Genie is it if there bottle now so why bit at least put it to a good use instead of keeping it only be abused by the billionaires and other evil entities.

    It’s too late now to stop that and I hate that they can do this, but the science is what it is so out it to better use. It’s an interesting capability regardless of how it can be abused, and since we aren’t going to stop using the technology we should really understand exactly how this works by using it and making it was beneficial as possible… Until we were ready to ban the tech, which I have no faith that we will ever.

    A bespoke device made to do this, not just your wifi router at home, might as well study it for good praises, or we may if only be abused with little defence against our collective abusers

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• nooneescapesthelaw@mander.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  You are correct because something similar has already been used

  …nasa.gov/FINDER-Finds-Its-Way-into-Rescuers-Tool…

  Microwaves are the same as wifi waves, these are able to detect bodies and whether the bodies are beating or not

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  • unmagical@lemmy.ml ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    WiFi uses a subset of the significantly wider microwave band. Ground Penetrating Radar also uses a subset of the microwave band. While there can be some overlap, the frequencies desired for GPR will very broadly based on what you are looking for, what you are looking in, and how deep you are looking for that thing. The wattage supplied can also differ.

    WiFi and Microwaves in general are most definitely not the same thing and I will absolutely encourage you to not set up a 1kW 3GHz jamming antenna for your WiFi needs.

    Could you use WiFi for search and rescue? Maybe for a narrow set of circumstances, but in almost all situations a dedicated GPR option will be better.

    This also won’t identify a victim, only revealing that one exists.

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