Data Transmission & Surveillance Radar (Part 1) WiFi - Wireless Fidelity
Privacy is a fundamental and necessary right in a free society. There is no Liberty without privacy. Those whom abuse or exploit this fundamental right seek to impose control, through the collection of intelligence, and subsequently respond in a manner which ensures an intended outcome. This increases the probability of obtaining more power and maintaining control moving forward through time.
Radar has evolved in the last 100 years. Today it comes in many “flavors” which are now being integrated onto single platforms in order to maximize space, efficiency , and energy requirements. “Modern radar systems often have imaging capability, can yield digitized signals quickly and easily for use with graphical overlays, can be networked together so the total system is greater than the sum of its parts, and can serve several different functions—such as wide-area search, target tracking, fire control, and weather monitoring—where previous generations of radar technology required separate systems to do the same jobs.”.
Radar technology provides a military or law enforcement with many advantages in all aspects of their affairs. Remote sensing and intelligence collection at "distance" provides important information needed to ensure mission success. “During the 1930s, efforts to use radio echoes for aircraft detection were initiated independently and almost simultaneously in eight countries that were concerned with the prevailing military situation and that already had practical experience with radio technology. The United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, the Soviet Union, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan all began experimenting with radar within about two years of one another...”
Modern wireless communications are a product of radar, radio communications, and weather system tracking performed by militaries, governments, and academia. Doppler Radar and Pulse Doppler Radar techniques are used for efficient wireless communication transmission. WiFi, short for Wireless Fidelity, is part of this evolution and exists everywhere around us these days. “A new report commissioned by Wi-Fi Alliance® estimates the current annual global economic value of Wi-Fi® at $1.96 trillion, projecting that number to surpass $3.47 trillion by 2023”. WiFi is readily available at just about every public space, school, hotel, restaurant, etc. Most Americans have a WiFi network running in their home. So, what else can WiFi do, besides provide incredibly fast and reliable internet connectivity?
WiFi is able to “image” an environment with enough detail to capture the keystrokes made on a laptop. This is accomplished by tracking and interpreting the movement of your fingers while typing on a keyboard. The WiFi radio signals are reflected off of the hand(s) and then processed with machine learning algorithms to produce very accurate re-creation of what is typed. WiFi can also collect your personal information if you choose to communicate by writing. The WiFi signals are analyzed to interpret variations in uppercase and lowercase script. Furthermore, through repeated monitoring, machine learning algorithms combined with neural networks (software) can discern from subtle differences in similar letters of the alphabet, like a “c” versus an “e”. This also means that WiFi is very capable of tracking a “target” in a WiFi field with very good precision. Finally, current research and technical developments have shown that WiFi networks are capable of listening to your speech. The orientation of the mouth during the “pronunciation” of words are capable of being “observed” (lip reading) through unique signal analysis. This analysis provides an understanding of the changes in the electromagnetic signal characteristics which are transmitted, reflected, and received.
But wait… There's so much more WiFi can do!!!
The signal frequencies used for WiFi (2.4GHz) are capable of actively monitoring biometric information such as a heartbeat (HRV) and breathing rate (respiration). These applications are "useful in the medical field, military applications, emergency response and security" functions such as airports, trains, prisons, retail locations, and schools. Physiological signals and body movement can be observed and monitored using Doppler Radar techniques in the 2.4GHz frequency band. This surveillance is possible with readily available components which are mass produced for consumer electronics and the growing markets comprising the Internet of Things.
Additional frequencies are useful for providing high speed wireless communications and are being implemented on an industrial scale. This will provide even more refined and robust surveillance techniques for circumventing personal privacy such as advanced biometric monitoring capabilities. For example, the FCC has embraced the use of the 60GHz for indoor and outdoor communications. Outdoor Distributed Antenna Arrays are being constructed as part of the 5G Infrastructure. Facebook and Qualcomm, are partnering to provide Gigabit speed over a wireless internet. Facebook’s project is called Terragraph which also has partnerships with other major telecommunication suppliers. These Distributed Antenna Arrays will provide “active” and “passive” radar capabilities, and are scheduled for installation in various cities in California as well as other cities around the world. This is just one example of many partnerships being formed in anticipation of the economic boom being projected as a result of 5G. The 60GHz band is a newer standard for indoor WiFi applications. Current “off the shelf” indoor wireless access solutions exist in addition to the proposed outdoor solutions.
A paper titled, “No-ncontact Measurement of Autonomic Nervous System Activities Based on Heart Rate Variability Using Ultra-Wideband Array Radar” discusses collecting physiological biometric information from the transmission and reception of electromagnetic waves at 60GHz frequencies. The information collected includes heartbeat, respiration as well as the emotional state of individual(s). This is possible by understanding the relationship between variations in heart rate (HRV),arterial blood flow pressure, and the Autonomic Nervous System. These comparisons can provide an accurate determination of an individual(s) current emotional state (happy, sad, stress, anger, arousal, etc.). Furthermore, additional frequencies have been tested to collect and monitor these types of human physiological information. The paper states, “An operating frequency band is one of the most important parameters in radar-based heartbeat monitoring. For example, many recent studies use low-frequency Continuous Wave (CW) radar at 2.4–2.5 GHz, 4.8 GHz, 5.8 GHz, and sub-MMW CW at 24 GHz, whereas some use UWB radar at 4.2 GHz, 6.8 GHz, 15 GHz, 24 GHz, 77 GHz, and 122 GHz”. These frequencies fall within the proposed and currently licensed spectrum for Satellite, Cellular, WiFi, 5G and future networks.
Ultra-wideband data connectivity will use pulsed mmWaves along with the implementation of the higher frequencies proposed for 5G. Impulse Radio technology provides the necessary bandwidth for the "real time" connectivity requirements needed for automation and the Internet of Things. The low power pulses over wider frequency bands can be used for a broad range of surveillance applications. The transmission characteristics of mmWave communications and the modulation schemes chosen to be utilized for mobile communications will require many antenna arrays to be constructed. This will ensure high throughput data services, reliable connectivity, as well as high resolution surveillance capabilities.
Our movement, speech, health, emotions, and potentially our thoughts are exposed to those who understand how to collect and extract this information. Decoding our biological communication signals provides detailed information about our most intimate activities and ideas. The collection and interpretation of our unique biological “signatures” combined with our outward expressions of movement, conversation, and “composition” is perhaps the most valuable insight one can have of another individual or society. “Every heart has its dark recesses, its cheerful sunny parlors, and its attic chambers”. ~James Lendall Basford (1845–1915), "Sentiment," Sparks from the Philosopher's Stone, 1882. After all, The Heart is a “Window” into the Mind, Body, and Soul.