US Army wants help in developing technology that can ‘see’ humans and objects through walls


The US Army wants its soldiers to be able to

US Army is developing technology that can ‘see’ through walls

  • The US army put out calls for a system than can sense objects through walls
  • In a request, the army says it wants the system to sense humans and objects
  • In part it would be used to identify hidden IEDs or enemy combatants
  • Similar systems have been developed by MIT in 2018 

The US Army wants to develop technology that gives its soldiers the ability to ‘see’ through walls.

In a request for information highlighted by Netxgov, the Army says it wants help from industry experts in developing a technology it calls Sense Through the Wall (STTW) System.

That system would give soldiers the ability to identify important objects like improvised explosive devices or human combatants through sold surfaces, like a wall. 

The US Army wants its soldiers to be able to ‘see’ through walls using a system that can sense objects and humans to help avoid IEDs and enemy combatants (stock image)

‘The intent of this market survey is to identify potential man-portable systems that give the Soldier the ability to detect, identify, and monitor persons, animals, and materials behind multi-leveled obstruction(s) from a long standoff range,’ reads the request sent out late last month.

Among the system’s abilities, according to the request, will be detecting and mapping the structure of ‘hidden rooms, passages, alcoves, caches, etc. including those underground.’

Additionally, the Army wants the system to be able to track human movement through walls and be glean bits of biometric data that indicates whether the subject is aggressive.

The system is also being designed to be mobile and, according to the Army, will have to be usable via a tablet or another similarly-sized device that displays appropriate cursors and interprets data for soldiers. 

‘The intent of this Market Survey is to identify potential man-portable systems that give the Soldier the ability to detect, identify, and monitor persons, animals, and materials behind multi-leveled obstruction(s) from a long standoff range,’ reads the request. 

While technology that allows soldiers to see through walls may sound firmly out of reach, the Army and adjacent researchers have has long sought to develop similar tools.

MIT researchers have developed AI that can see through walls (pictured). The tech uses radio frequencies to sense and detect peoples movements and postures, even when obscured from view

MIT researchers have developed AI that can see through walls (pictured). The tech uses radio frequencies to sense and detect peoples movements and postures, even when obscured from view

In 2018, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) demonstrated a system that uses artificial intelligence to analyze radio signals that bounce off a person’s body.

Those signals, which can travel through walls, are used to construct a basic figure of a person obscured by a surface and is able to track people as they walk, jump or sit.

The project, known as RF-Pose, was created by showing a computer algorithm thousands of clips of people performing different actions alongside the corresponding radio signals.

This allowed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) to figure out the relationship between changes in radio waves and human movement.

The team suggested that soldiers could use its system via augmented reality goggles and a transmitter device could ‘see’ projections of concealed enemies. 

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