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posted by chromas on Friday August 17 2018, @12:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the yeah,-but-can-it-detect-why-kids-love-the-taste-of-Cinnamon-Toast-Crunch? dept.

Ordinary wi-fi could be used to detect weapons and explosives in public places, according to a study led by the Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Wireless signals can penetrate bags to measure the dimensions of metal objects or estimate the volume of liquids, researchers claim. Initial tests appeared to show that the system was at least 95% accurate.

[...] The team behind the research tested 15 types of objects and six types of bags. The wi-fi system had success rates of 99% for recognising dangerous objects, 98% for metal and 95% for liquids. When objects were wrapped inside bags, the accuracy rate dropped to about 90%.

The low-cost system requires a wi-fi device with two or three antennas and can be integrated into existing wi-fi networks. The system works by analysing what happens when wireless signals penetrate and bounce off objects and materials.


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 17 2018, @12:27PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 17 2018, @12:27PM (#722772)

    "Initial tests appeared to show that the system was at least 95% accurate."

    Depends on who is conducting the tests. Is it the uneducated TSA staff screening everyone or is it top scientists and researchers?

    These tests were probably conducted by some highly intelligent people in a very controlled environment. The TSA gets things wrong all the time because real life is messy and the TSA isn't nearly as intelligent. The quality of tests are only as good as the quality of those conducting them.

    Anyways I guess now they can create a new sales pitch, new Wifi scanner to replace old systems. Something new for manufacturers to sell. Of course it really won't be better in the end but at least it generates an excuse to buy something new. The latest and the greatest, the same as the old model.

    I'm pretty sure I've read about Wifi being used for these sorts of things before and that it's superior. If so why didn't they just start with that? Oh, I know, because they need to start with something worse to give you an excuse to spend money to upgrade.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 17 2018, @01:59PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 17 2018, @01:59PM (#722797)

    95% accurate is only 80% accurate in the article itself.
    The system is at least 95% accurate; first claim
    Then they claim it can recognize 99% of dangerous objects. But only 98% if they are metal and 95% if they are liquids. Both 98 and 95 are lower than the 99% claim. So there's some big info missing here
    When it's wrapped in a bag, and I haven't seen much terrorist bombs not wrapped in something even if its just clothing, it drops to 90%. So the most plausible real world scenario, wrapped in bag is only 90% accurate. With hundreds of people walking by a day, that's just not usable at all. They need a few order of magnitude improvements.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Friday August 17 2018, @02:49PM (4 children)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday August 17 2018, @02:49PM (#722817) Homepage Journal

      90% accurate is pretty good. That means only 10% mistakes. The machine looks at 10 good guys, you only have to give 1 guy the butthole search. The stop & frisk. The machine looks at 10 terrorists, you catch 9 of them with the frisk. And only 1 gets on the plane. Much much better than what we have now. I'm from NYC, I always talk to the blacks. And if you're black you get stopped & frisked all the time. Because they studied the crimes, they found out the blacks do so many of them -- Central Park 5. So they get frisking. It's nothing special.

      Can you imagine if it was marriage? If 90% stayed together and 10% divorce? Everybody would say, "oh, marriage is a very smart idea." It's 50-50, people still do it. I've done it many times. If the Bomb Scan was 50-50, you don't need the scanner. You can do it with a coin. So long as it's not the kind Crooked Hillary used to win the Iowa primary!!!

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 17 2018, @03:07PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 17 2018, @03:07PM (#722824)

        When they bounce them off of your head do they get an echo?

        • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 17 2018, @06:28PM

          by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday August 17 2018, @06:28PM (#722886) Journal

          When they bounce them off of your head do they get an echo?

          What, through that faraday cage he wears as a wig?

      • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 17 2018, @06:31PM (1 child)

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday August 17 2018, @06:31PM (#722890) Journal

        Because they studied the crimes, they found out the blacks do so many of them -- Central Park 5. So they get frisking. It's nothing special.

        Or, they get wrongfully imprisoned for a decade....nothing special.

        • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday August 17 2018, @07:28PM

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday August 17 2018, @07:28PM (#722909) Homepage Journal

          I know more about Central Park than anybody, believe me. I made Central Park famous, it's famous for my MAGNIFICENT ice rink, Wollman Rink. Which has been tremendous for me, when I would have been flat broke I had the money from my rink to fall back on.

          But the other thing Central Park is famous for is a terrible crime. There was a pretty young banker, Trisha Meili. She wasn't an ice skater, she was a jogger. Unfortunately for her. Well, she thought she'd go for a jog in Central Park. And that's when 5 strapping young bucks -- teenage thugs -- mugged her. And raped her front and back while she was in a coma. Our great and very brave NYPD caught them. And they all confessed.

          I love "Justice." As everybody knows. So at my own expense, I placed full-page ads in the New York Times, Daily News, New York Post and Newsday. I said, "BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK THE POLICE! I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes. They must serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or an act of violence." Advertising works. And my ad worked beautifully, folks really paid attention to it. Because I was the most successful businessman New York ever had.

          Well, the trial. The 5 rapists pleaded not guilty, they were lying. The jury could tell -- convicted. Not Death Penalty, unfortunately. But they were locked up for a long time. Then Weak DA Morgenthau says, let's reverse this. And he talked a judge into reversing it. Those animals were released onto the streets. They sued the city for MANY MILLIONS of dollars. And the city settled with them for many millions. It's disgraceful. They admitted they were guilty. The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. But a VERY WEAK District Attorney canceled the whole thing. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. Settling doesn't mean innocence, but it indicates incompetence on several levels. HEIST OF THE CENTURY!!!!