How can we recognise human gestures, especially hand gestures? The answer would be by collecting pictures or videos of hands, and then process said data to recognise gestures, as this is the most conventional approach. However, the work developed by INESC TEC researchers in this area is far from traditional; in this case, the innovative character of the solution developed lies in the use of radio frequency (RF) data instead of images or videos. The work won the first ANACOM-URSI Portugal – International Union of Radio Science award, standing out as the best research in the field of radio electricity.
Nuno Paulino and Mariana Oliveira, INESC TEC researchers, sought to address an extremely important issue: privacy. According to Nuno Paulino, the goal was “not to rely on image and video data that represent identity or other information for the classification of human activity”, especially considering that “radio frequency data are almost ubiquitous and, therefore, make it possible to demonstrate that it is feasible to extract and use as much information as possible for this and potentially other applications.” The solution also ensures lower cost implementation, since the alternatives would require additional equipment or devices for sensing. In addition, reconfigurable smart surfaces (RIS) stand out as an essential technology for the communications systems of the future, promising to revolutionise the way wireless networks are optimised and used.
But what did our researchers accomplish? The researcher explained that their own RF devices have been developed for data collection. More specifically, he mentioned “a reconfigurable intelligent surface, which can be described as a configurable antenna that allows manipulation of the electromagnetic medium. This surface operates in a frequency range around 6.5GHz, which is part of the range allocated for the recent WiFi6 specification; through the RF data collected at this frequency, we were able to classify three different gestures of a target in a specific area.”
The use of RF data in cases like this demonstrates the feasibility of applying said data within the broader concept of “RF sensing” – one of the expected capabilities of new generations of wireless communication.
Thanks to the novel and relevant character of this research – along the scope and the results obtained -, the researchers secured the first place in the ANACOM-URSI Portugal – International Union of Radio Science award. Nuno Paulino highlighted the commitment of a solid and collaborative team: “this acknowledgement places us as reference researchers in an area that is expected to be highly relevant in the coming years.”
In addition to Nuno Paulino and Mariana Oliveira, the work also featured researchers Francisco Ribeiro, Luís Outeiro, Pedro A. Lopes, Francisco Vilarinho, Sofia Inácio and Luís Pessoa. It is available here.
The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC.
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