MIT’s Lincoln Lab researchers have built a system that can see through walls from some distance away, giving an instantaneous picture of the activity on the other side.
The researchers’ device is an array of antenna arranged into two rows — eight receiving elements on top, 13 transmitting below — and some computing equipment, all mounted onto a movable cart. But it has powerful implications for military operations.
Transmitters emit waves of a certain frequency in the direction of the target. But in this case, each time the waves hit the wall, the concrete blocks more than 99 percent of them from passing through. And that’s only half the battle: Once the waves bounce off any targets, they must pass back through the wall to reach the radar’s receivers — and again, 99 percent don’t make it. By the time it hits the receivers, the signal is reduced to about 0.0025 percent of its original strength.
What has been difficult for through-wall radar systems is achieving the speed, resolution and range necessary to be useful in real time. The Lincoln Lab team’s system may be used at a range of up to 60 feet away from the wall. And, it gives a real-time picture of movement behind the wall in the form of a video at the rate of 10.8 frames per second. See how this new technology works. Learn more from MIT.
Radar Array Sees Through Walls
