Wi-Fi Detects People Through Walls... Surprising New AI Technology

A new technology that can "see through" walls to detect human movements using Wi-Fi signals is attracting attention.

This technology is called Densepose and was recently released for free on the open-source development community GitHub. According to the developer, the technology uses Wi-Fi electromagnetic waves to detect a person's posture and movements through walls. The detection range extends up to 5 meters through concrete walls.

Dentsply detects subtle human movements through Wi-Fi signals. X Capture

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The key lies in the electromagnetic signals used by Wi-Fi antennas when transmitting and receiving data. By integrating Wi-Fi signal detection, advanced signal processing, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based analysis, the system detects the reflection of wireless signals to digitally reconstruct the human skeleton.

By utilizing this type of digital skeleton, it is possible to observe a person's posture and movements without a camera. This is similar to motion capture systems used in 3D animation, games, and movie computer graphics (CG). In some experiments, even subtle chest movements caused by breathing were captured.

Wi-Fi-based motion detection technology itself has been in development for more than 10 years. Previously, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University led the Densepose project, pioneering the field of wireless detection.

However, it is not possible to detect movements with standard Wi-Fi devices alone. Specialized external antennas are required, as well as multiple advanced computer chip boards to run the AI.

The researchers claim that Densepose can be applied in a wide range of fields, including disaster rescue, elderly care, security, and medical monitoring. However, since it is a tool capable of identifying human movement beyond walls, concerns have also been raised about potential invasions of privacy. In fact, Serge Egelman, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University who participated in the study, pointed out, "If you turn communication devices into detection sensors, the entire privacy landscape could change."

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