Scanning Buildings with Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi technology is widely known and used almost everywhere. As technology has advanced and internet access has become easier, many people have started using its capabilities virtually all the time. On average, people around the world spend more than 5.5 hours a day “online,” and few stop to consider that Wi-Fi technology could be used for some other purpose.

However, scientists from the University of Munich have demonstrated that a hologram of any building can be created by processing a Wi-Fi signal. A Wi-Fi access point constantly emits microwave radiation into the surrounding space. The scientists developed a method for capturing signals reflected off people and objects and, after processing them using Wi-Fi holography, produced a 3D model of the enclosed space through which the signal had traveled.

Ideas about using Wi-Fi like X-rays to see through walls have been circulating in the scientific community for a long time, especially with the growing popularity of the competing LTE technology, but this case was a unique example of processing the signal holographically.