UAVs have learned to "see" through walls

Scientists from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) taught drones to “see” 3D objects hidden behind brick walls. True, the drone alone can not cope with this task, it needs a partner. In the future, they plan to use this technology for search and rescue operations, during archaeological excavations, and much more.

What's in the black box?

The principle that drones have learned to look through walls is somewhat reminiscent of naval combat. This requires unmanned aerial vehicles with Wi-Fi.

Drones synchronously fly around a brick structure of a cubic shape to always be on opposite sides. One of them constantly transmits a Wi-Fi signal, and the second caught it, measuring at what moments the signal power fluctuates, meeting an obstacle inside a brick cube. Based on these fluctuations, the computer determines the size and shape of the objects that are there.

Born to crawl sees worse

Three years ago, engineers managed to train ground robots to "see" objects hidden behind a brick wall on the same principle with Wi-Fi. But since they are terrestrial and limited by movement on a hard surface, the results of the “scan” turned out to be two-dimensional.

Now, drones that can fly in any direction have allowed us to analyze what is hidden behind the bricks from different angles. Therefore, they gave a more accurate result. In the future, this opens up wide possibilities for using this system in various fields.

Watch the video: THE DAY I LEARNED TO FLY A DRONE (April 2024).