Scientists Use Sound To See Around Corners (sciencemag.org) 39
sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: Spies may soon have another tool to carry out their shadowy missions: a new device that uses sound to "see" around corners. Previously, researchers developed gadgets that bounced light waves around corners to catch reflections and see things out of the line of sight. To see whether they could do something similar with sound, another group of scientists built a hardware prototype -- a vertical pole adorned with off-the-shelf microphones and small car speakers. The speakers emitted a series of chirps, which bounced off a nearby wall at an angle before hitting a hidden object on another wall -- a poster board cutout of the letter H. Scientists then moved their rig bit by bit, each time making more chirps, which bounced back the way they came, into the microphones. Using algorithms from seismic imaging, the system reconstructed a rough image of the letter H. The technique is years from practical application, but the authors suggest an ultrasound version might eventually be used on autonomous vehicles to detect unseen obstacles. Or it could be used to spy on your co-worker in the next cubicle.
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The next time I need to sneak up on a cardboard cutout of the letter H, I will definitely give these guys a call.
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I use to have to fix high speed line Impact Printers. To help collaborate them it prints a bunch of H's over and over again. The reason for the H is that it shows the outer left and right end of the font, while other letters would be harder to see. So if the printer prints out a -| or a |- vs an |-| we know to adjust the hammer left or right so it hits the letter straight on.
I think for this technology H is probably a good letter for similar reasons. We can see the far left and right, as well some center
Scientists discover hearing (Score:1)
I too have learned how to utilize acoustic reverberance to estimate the location and source of objects outside my visual field. While I admit that my personal model has not been able to discern the letter H around a corner, it does not require that I walk around with a giant pole at all times. It is in fact far more discrete, requiring only two small protrusions on the head that can easily be covered by a hat or long hair.
I think that for a spy hiding in plain sight, my model is far less conspicuous.
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If I had a nickel for every time I heard that...
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Exactly. Keep the giant pole safely put away until needed.
That's what she said.
Wasn't this previously done with wifi? If you cab see through walls do you still need to see around corners?
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Wasn't this previously done with wifi? If you cab see through walls do you still need to see around corners?
Cabs are so last century. Uber and Lyft are what's in. But we understand what you meant.
daredevil knows how (Score:3)
i found the previous development with the bouncing lightwaves more impressive, using sound somehow seems like a logical solution.
it's been used in scifi and hero comics over the years, just look at daredevil.
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i found the previous development with the bouncing lightwaves more impressive, using sound somehow seems like a logical solution.
it's been used in scifi and hero comics over the years, just look at daredevil.
And bats.
I would have called it "SONAR" (Score:4, Insightful)
But then I would have spoiled the nice technical article...
Re:I would have called it "SONAR" (Score:5, Insightful)
No, this is literally active SONAR [wikipedia.org]. Sending out acoustic pulses, and then capturing/measuring/classifying the returned echoes (or the absence thereof). That is what is happening here. This is SONAR
More importantly, this is SONAR utilizing diffraction. The sound diffracts off the corner, and the echoes from that diffraction are what is captured and analyzed. So it is completely SONAR, but with the added complexity of diffraction thrown in - stuff we were able to finally solve in the ultrasound world around 1993 to 1994...
BTW (Score:2)
"a vertical pole"
Happy Festivus for the rest of us.
Sesame Street Beware! (Score:2)
They are coming for your letters, starting with H.
You have been warned.
Spy on your cubie neighbor? Seriously? (Score:2)
The most obvious need is to see whether the boss is headed for your cubicle, to ask if you could come in to work on Saturday, mmmmmkay? That would be great...
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There's no need to spy for a lot of us . . . since we have switched from cubicles to "Open Office Collaborative Innovation E-places".
As to noise, there is no need to send out chirping sounds . . . the salesperson sitting next to you is blabbing on the phone the whole day, while you try to concentrate and code.
Solution? Home Office.
Now try to spy on me while I'm working in my Home Office.
Blender (Score:3)
When I want to know more about a picture I usually run the Blender raytracing engine in reverse on it to reveal the hidden parts of the scene. It's powerful and I'd explain but the interface for it is cumbersome to say the least.
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Like a spider in a web, waiting....
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how quickly one will develop a "cricket" type devise to create a mess of noise to counteract this.
Bravo - The countermeasures for this "see around corners" technique make it kind of pointless.
actual use (Score:2)
Using this on drones would be a stretch. It would be much easier for the drone to fly out away from the corner and look. What this WILL be used for is urban assault teams. Half of the training seems to be about what to do at corners and door openings. A miniturized version that fit in a headset and used ultrasonic beeps would work in concert with the night vision goggles, and provide an overhead view overlay.
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It would be easy to defeat once you were looking for it. By the time the technology is well-developed, countermeasures will be even more well-developed. Meanwhile, a robot with a bunch of disposable cameras on stalks that it can extend around corners could get the same job done, only better.
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Using this on drones would be a stretch. It would be much easier for the drone to fly out away from the corner and look. What this WILL be used for is urban assault teams. Half of the training seems to be about what to do at corners and door openings. A miniturized version that fit in a headset and used ultrasonic beeps would work in concert with the night vision goggles, and provide an overhead view overlay.
Next gadget to be developed is a tiny mic that detects incoming ultrasonic beeps and tells you when the guys around the corner are getting close to detecting you.
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to use a mirror?
I can see how that would work better and be a whole lot lighter to carry around... :)
I've been doing that for years with soundwaves (Score:5, Funny)
Just by saying: "Are you in the kitchen, Darling?"