Scientists have found a way to photograph people in 3D through walls using Wi-Fi

www.businessinsider.com ^ | 05-22-2017 | Dave Mosher

[Red Badger]

Wi-Fi can pass through walls.

This fact is easy to take for granted, yet it's the reason we can surf the web using a wireless router located in another room.

But not all of that microwave radiation makes it to (or from) our phones, tablets, and laptops. Routers scatter and bounce their signal off objects, illuminating our homes and offices like invisible light bulbs.

Now, German scientists have found a way to exploit this property to take holograms, or 3D photographs, of objects inside a room — from outside it.

"It can basically scan a room with someone's Wi-Fi transmission," Philipp Holl, a 23-year-old undergraduate physics student at the Technical University of Munich, told Business Insider.

Holl initially built the device as part of his bachelor thesis with the help of his academic supervisor, Friedemann Reinhard. The two later submitted a study about their technique to the journal Physical Review Letters, which published their paper in early May.

Holl says the technology is only in its prototype stage and has limited resolution, but he is excited about its promise.

"If there's a cup of coffee on a table, you may see something is there, but you couldn't see the shape," Holl says. "But you could make out the shape of a person, or a dog on a couch. Really any object that's more than 4 centimeters in size."

[a fool in paradise]

They already do this with thermal imaging through walls

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

I’m probably talking out my ass but I believe the wavelength is key in what the radiation passes through and what is reflected back.

[outofsalt]

That would qualify you as a smart ass!0

[moovova]

“Honey, does this see-thru-the-wall 3-D Wifi hologram make my butt look fat?”

[Red Badger]

No, but that Spandex Yoga Pantsuit sure does.................

[JudgemAll]

Yeah, but this system is passive.

[dp0622]

That is more likely :)

[Sirius Lee]

Gonna need metal mesh in the walls.

That or something that can analyze all of the refractions coming off all the objects and people in the room and generate an inverse wave pattern as the wi-fi (like active noise cancellation headphones).

[Cold Heart]

And that is the reason the government banned lead paint:)

[Red Badger]

They banned lead paint so that they could have more lead for bullets.....................

[Svartalfiar]

They already do this with thermal imaging through walls

No, they don't. Thermal sights can't see through physical objects. In fact, looking at a house or car window with a thermal sight, you won't see anything in the building or vehicle. You'll just see a plain solid window.