Illustration of the lab setup for m-Widar, with transmitters and receiver at left and person behind wallboard at right. Inset at lower right shows the corresponding image produced by the instrument.
Credit: NIST
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Wavsens LLC have developed a method for using radio signals to create real-time images and videos of hidden and moving objects, which could help firefighters find escape routes or victims inside buildings filled with fire and smoke. The technique could also help track hypersonic objects such as missiles and space debris.
The new method, described June 25 in Nature Communications, could provide critical information to help reduce deaths and injuries. Locating and tracking first responders indoors is a prime goal for the public safety community. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of orbiting space junk are considered dangerous to humans and spacecraft. “Our system allows real-time imaging around corners and through walls and tracking of fast-moving objects such as millimeter-sized space debris flying at 10 kilometers per second, more than 20,000 miles per hour, all from standoff distances,” said physicist Fabio da Silva, who led the development of the system while working at NIST.
“Because we use radio signals, they go through almost everything, like concrete, drywall, wood and glass,” da Silva added. “It’s pretty cool because not only can we look behind walls, but it takes only a few microseconds of data to make an image frame. The sampling happens at the speed of light, as fast as physically possible.”
This demonstration of the m-Widar (micro-Wav ..Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
