WiFi signals can measure heart rate
Everyone’s heart is different. Like the iris or fingerprint, our unique cardiac signature can be used as a way to tell us apart. It can already be done from a distance using lasers [1].
[1] https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/06/27/238884/the-penta...
This is nothing new. Wifi signals have been used to detect objects, people and animals, gait analysis[1], read keystrokes[2], monitor breathing and heart rates[3], "hear" conversations[4], etc for at least a decade now.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12353605
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/08/wi-fi...
1: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7457075
No clunky wearables? No chest strap on the treadmill? Heart rate and respiration? Monitors everyone in the house simultaneously 24/7 on a cheap rpi? I hope this doesn't take years to come to market because this seems incredibly useful.
802.11bf is working on sensing applications:
> With recent advancements, the wireless local area network (WLAN) or wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology has been successfully utilized to realize sensing functionalities such as detection, localization, and recognition. However, the WLANs standards are developed mainly for the purpose of communication, and thus may not be able to meet the stringent requirements for emerging sensing applications. To resolve this issue, a new Task Group (TG), namely IEEE 802.11bf, has been established by the IEEE 802.11 working group, with the objective of creating a new amendment to the WLAN standard to meet advanced sensing requirements while minimizing the effect on communications. […]
* https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10547188
> In recent years, Wi-Fi has been shown to be a viable technology to enable a wide range of sensing applications, and Wi-Fi sensing has become an active area of research and development. Due to the significant and growing interest in Wi-Fi sensing, Task Group IEEE 802.11bf was formed to develop an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard that will enhance its ability to support Wi-Fi sensing and applications such as user presence detection, environment monitoring in smart buildings, and remote wellness monitoring. In this paper, we identify and describe the main definitions and features of the IEEE 802.11bf amendment as defined in its first draft. Our focus is on the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) sensing procedure, which supports bistatic and multistatic Wi-Fi sensing in license-exempt frequency bands below 7 GHz (specifically, 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz). We also present an overview of basic sensing principles, and provide a detailed discussion of features defined in the IEEE 802.11bf amendment that enhance client-based Wi-Fi sensing.
* https://www.nist.gov/publications/ieee-80211bf-enabling-wide...
* https://www.cognitivesystems.com/how-does-802-11bf-enhance-l...
(See also perhaps IEEE 802.11bi, Enhanced Data Privacy.)
It's galling that this press blurb only focuses on happy (supposed) health monitoring benefits, and fails to address the privacy concerns in the slightest.
This can be abused in so many ways, like watching how people's heart rates change then watching an add, or browsing a selection of goods in the shop, and making viscerally targeted advertising. Or burglars detecting whether people are at home.
Soon we won't just have to worry about unpatched wifi routers being parts of botnes, we'll have to worry about them tracking our locations and excitement levels and selling them off to whoever.
Apparently wifi can also see through walls:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37469920 (from the same org)
I wonder, if this would work with bluetooth, too. Would be nice to hack e.g. the new, cheaper version Pebble watch to measure heart-rate this way. I mean, possibly this could even be superimposed on the regular BT-connection signals. I presume open firmware would enable these sort of things.
I do it using MMWave sensor, 60Ghz one. Want to have more of them but installation is a pain as these need to be mounted on ceiling so WiFi based sensor would be awesome!
I guess it is good to be aware of what’s possible. But all this stuff about using WiFi to measure things about people—it’s a bit creepy, right? I mean, to state the obvious, we (as a society) have got a bunch of poorly patched or corporate controlled WiFi routers attached to the network. What a surveillance catastrophe waiting to happen.
I mean, heart rate? Do we have a giant network that can tell where everybody is and whether they are having a strong emotional response to anything?
Its a good effort but very pedestrian and a very low hanging fruit. Its just another academia paper that will be published.
https://doi.org/10.1109/GLOBECOM38437.2019.9014297 https://doi.org/10.1109/CCNC.2018.8319181 https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3286978.3287003 ..... many more.
I'd say this is far more interesting, does not use ML and credits the tech stacks that it leverages . https://people.csail.mit.edu/davidam/docs/WiMic_final.pdf
New polygraph just dropped.
Bros at UCSC must be getting some good grants from the US military. I can already imagine the next gen of public-wifi driven drone strikes
I think soon it will be time to seriously consider eliminating use of Wifi in some private places and going back to speed and reliability of copper wires. WiFi is like basically illuminating an area in light that can pass through walls.
Thanks, now I need to build a faraday cage around my chest to stop the CIA from polygraphing me at range.
surveillance state intensifies
[dead]
WiFi equipment can see your heart beating, but don't worry, it cannot possibly have any harmful effects on human physiology.
Can't help but think of the Star Trek TOS episode where Kirk is accused of murder and they find the "murder victim" in the ship by identifying and isolating heart beats until they discover he must still be aboard. It's been almost 60 years since the episode came out, but still sorry if that's a spoiler