Biometric identification has become common as we see face, fingerprint and iris recognition in our smartphones. However, researchers want to take this a step further and the next body part that could help in “identifying” you is your heart.
A device developed by the researchers at the Pentagon detects a person’s cardiac signature using laser beams. Unlike your face and fingerprints, your cardiac signatures cannot be altered in any way. One of the most interesting things about this device called Jetson is that it can detect a person’s unique cardiac signatures from 200 meters away.
The device uses a technology called laser vibrometry to detect surface movements caused by a beating heart. However, the tech is still in a nascent stage as it can only work through normal and thin clothes like a shirt but faces issues in detection when a person is wearing thicker clothes like a winter coat.
Another challenge involved with this heartbeat detection tech is that it takes almost 30 seconds to pick up the data beamed from the returning laser beam. Therefore, it can efficiently only is the subject is sitting or standing and cannot capture a moving subject as of now.
Researchers behind Jetson claim that in favorable conditions, the device can work with 95% accuracy and can be improved further.
The applications of Jetson can be found in the field of medicine as doctors can monitor patients remotely, in curbing terrorism by detecting terrorists from their heartbeat without knowing their name or face and in several other fields.
