WiTrack
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WiFi tech lets scientists monitor your vital signs through walls
MIT's CSAIL lab has just taken its very cool but kinda creepy WiFi motion tracking to a new level: monitoring your vital signs from another room. Last we saw, the same researchers bounced low-powered WiFi signals (100x less than a home router) off of individuals to finely track their position behind a wall. The resulting 10cm (four inch) precision was nothing compared to what they can now do, however. Fancier algorithms enabled the system to approximate subjects' volumes within millimeters, and then calculate their breathing level by amplifying and observing the subtle changes over time. From breathing levels, the researchers could extrapolate heart rate with 99 percent accuracy -- something foreshadowed uncannily by earlier research. The tech may lead to non-invasive vital sign monitoring, more advanced baby monitors and other, more sinister, applications.
MIT's 3D motion-tracking tech can see you through walls, no camera needed
Even if you hide behind a wall, MIT's 3D motion-tracking tech can still see you. It can even tell if you've "fallen and can't get up." Sure the tech sounds invasive, but the team's WiTrack (as it's been dubbed) device is actually less intrusive than Microsoft's Kinect -- there's no camera watching your every move. Nor is there any wearable tech involved. Instead, the setup relies solely on a wireless network and your body's ability to bounce back those radio waves.
