Human Image Synthesis From Reflected Radio Waves

Researchers from China have developed a method to synthesize near photoreal images of people without cameras, by using radio waves and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). The system they have devised is trained on real images taken in good light, but is capable of capturing relatively authentic'snapshots' of humans even when conditions are dark – and even through major obstructions which would hide the people from conventional cameras. The images rely on'heat maps' from two radio antennae, one capturing data from the ceiling down, and another recording radio wave perturbations from a'standing' position. The resulting photos from the researchers' proof-of-concept experiments have a faceless, 'J-Horror' aspect: RFGAN is trained on images of real people in controlled environments and on radio wave heatmaps that record human activity. Having learned features from the data, RFGAN can then generate snapshots based on new RF data.