Tracking Technology Identifies People Through Wall
MIT group of researchers and students developed a tracking technology that can see through walls to identify people. This new development could justify its use for monitoring elderly and other applications. However, this also raises bars concerns in privacy.
Based on the results, RF-Pose can predict any movement of a person whether he or she is walking, sitting, standing or waiving. Moreover, this tech can identify people from a known group with an 83% success rate. The developers said that this could justify its use on various applications including law enforcement and more importantly, health care.
“We’ve seen that monitoring patients’ walking speed and ability to do basic activities on their own gives healthcare providers a window into their lives that they didn’t have before, which could be meaningful for a whole range of diseases,” said Dina Katabi, a computer scientist at MIT and leader of the group.
On June, Katabi’s group exhibited the technology’s new research at a Salt Lake City conference.
Using radio waves, the RF-Pose can detect any person’s movement behind a wall.
According to Katabi, the technology is used on health particularly in monitoring on patients with Parkinson’s disease. This is through watching the changes in a patient’s gait. Further, this technology is useful in monitoring an elderly relative through receiving an instant notification if he or she falls.
RF-Pose is using artificial intelligence to infer radio wave data. The technology’s previous version could spot the silhouette of a person behind a wall. However, Katabi highlighted that this is the first time that the tracking technology can nearly identify people.
Meanwhile, RF-Pose’s core is a laptop-sized radio transmitter. It transmits radio waves that pass through walls in human reflection forms. The algorithms of computer examine the reflected waves and produce moving on-screen stick figures.
Indian Gov’t promotes technology challenge to stop human entry in sewers for cleaning
India’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the technology challenge. This is to eliminate human intervention into drains and septic tanks for cleaning.
The technology challenge aims to seek suitable solutions from NGOs and individuals.
According to Ministry spokesman Rajeev Kumar Jain, the technology challenge is a part of Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention. This will be held on October 2 up until August 14, 2019.
“Elimination of human entry into sewer drains and cleaning of the septic tank is the ultimate goal of this challenge. Proposals have been invited by the ministry from interested innovators, individuals, consortium partners, companies, academic institutions, research and development centers, NGOs, and municipal bodies, to provide innovative technical solutions which eliminate the need for human entry into septic tanks and sewers,” – Jain said.
