Wi-Fi信号能监视你的一举一动？

近日，卡耐基梅隆大学研究团队发现，在外面监测房间内的Wi-Fi信号就能“看”到人们在房间里的行为。

🤔️小作业：

无注释原文：

A router’s emissions can paint a picture of activity in a room

From: The Economist

Like all radio waves, Wi-Fi signals undergo subtle shifts when they encounter objects—human beings included. These can reveal information about the shape and motion of what has been encountered, in a manner akin to the way a bat’s chirps reveal obstacles and prey.

Starting from this premise Jiaqi Geng, Dong Huang and Fernando De la Torre, of Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, wondered if they could use Wi-Fi to record the behaviour of people inside otherwise unobservable rooms. As they describe in a posting on arXiv, they have found that they can. “DensePose from Wi-Fi”, the paper in question, describes how they ran Wi-Fi signals from a room with appropriate routers in it through an artificial-intelligence algorithm trained on signals from people engaging in various, known activities. This algorithm was able to reconstruct moving digital portraits, called pose estimations, of the individuals in the room.

Mr Geng, Dr Huang and Dr De la Torre are not the first to think of doing this. But they seem to have made a significant advance. Earlier experiments had managed to obtain two-dimensional (2D) pose estimations based on as many as 17 “vector points” on the body—such as head, chest, knees, elbows and hands. The new paper, by contrast, describes “2.5D” portraits that track 24 vector points (see picture). And, according Dr Huang, the team has now built an enhanced version capable of generating complete 3D body reconstructions that track thousands of vector points. Moreover, this work employed standard antennas of the sort used in household Wi-Fi routers. Previous efforts have relied on souped-up versions of the equipment.

Detailed Wi-Fi-based body-tracking with a standard-issue router would have many uses. Mr Geng, Dr Huang and Dr De la Torre talk of employing it to “monitor the well-being of elder people”. A team working on similar technology, led by Yili Ren of Florida State University, suggests it could be used in interactive gaming and exercise monitoring. And, in 2016, Dina Katabi, Mingmin Zhao and Fadel Adib of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated how Wi-Fi-like radio signals could detect a volunteer’s heartbeat (and thus his or her emotional state) remotely.

These ideas are, however, distractions from what any such system would almost certainly be used for to start with, namely surveillance and espionage. In 2018, for example, Yanzi Zhu of the University of California, Santa Barbara and his colleagues showed how hackers posted outside someone’s home could track the movements (though not then visualise the postures) of people inside, by intercepting escaping Wi-Fi signals.

It is easy to imagine who might be interested in the ability to turn any building’s Wi-Fi network into a mini panopticon. Dr Huang declined to say who is sponsoring his team’s work. However, another of their projects—developing techniques for detecting specific human behaviours in video-surveillance footage—is paid for by IARPA, the research hub of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees America’s spies.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline "I spy, with my little Wi-Fi" (Jan 25th 2023)

注：中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

A router’s emissions can paint a picture of activity in a room

From: The Economist

Like all radio waves, Wi-Fi signals undergo subtle shifts when they encounter objects—human beings included. These can reveal information about the shape and motion of what has been encountered, in a manner akin to the way a bat’s chirps reveal obstacles and prey.

像所有无线电波一样，当Wi-Fi信号遇到物体（包括人类）时，它们都会发生微妙的变化。这些信号可以揭示所遇到物体的形状和运动信息，类似于蝙蝠的鸣叫声以揭示障碍物和猎物。

表示“经历，经受（令人不快的事或变化） ”，英文解释为“to experience something that is unpleasant or something that involves a change”举个🌰：

Playing board games is undergoing a revival in popularity. 棋盘游戏正经历着一场复兴。

🎬电影《白日梦想家》（The Secret Life of Walter Mitty）中的台词提到：But as we undergothis transition to LIFE online... we wanted to be candid with you... 但由于我们处于"生活"杂志网络化的过渡期...所以我们想明白告诉你们...

表示“难以察觉，难以理解的；微妙的，细微的”，英文解释为“not easy to notice or understand unless you pay careful attention”举个🌰：

The pictures are similar, but there are subtle differences between them. 这些图片很相似，但它们之间有细微的差别。

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述企业发现AI难以实施的文章中提到：A more subtle problem is that of deciding what to use AI for. 一个更微妙的问题是决定AI派上什么用场。

1）表示“遭遇”，英文解释为“If you encounter problems or difficulties, you experience them.”举个🌰：

Every day of our lives we encounter major and minor stresses of one kind or another. 生活中的每一天，我们会遇到或大或小的这样那样的压力。

2）表示“偶然相遇，邂逅，不期而遇”，英文解释为“If you encounter someone, you meet them, usually unexpectedly. ”举个🌰：

Did you encounter anyone in the building? 你在那栋大楼里偶然遇到什么人了吗？

akin to sth 表示“与某物相似的，与某物类似的”，英文解释为“very similar to something”举个🌰：

Something akin to panic overwhelmed him. 一种近似惊恐的感觉使他不知所措。

chirp /tʃɜːp/ 表示“（尤指鸟）啁啾，唧唧叫，叽喳叫”，英文解释为“(especially of a bird) to make a short high sound or sounds”

表示“被捕食的动物，猎物”，英文解释为“an animal that is hunted and killed for food by another animal”举个🌰：

A hawk hovered in the air before swooping on its prey. 老鹰在空中盘旋，之后向猎物猛扑过去。

Starting from this premise Jiaqi Geng, Dong Huang and Fernando De la Torre, of Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, wondered if they could use Wi-Fi to record the behaviour of people inside otherwise unobservable rooms. As they describe in a posting on arXiv, they have found that they can. “DensePose from Wi-Fi”, the paper in question, describes how they ran Wi-Fi signals from a room with appropriate routers in it through an artificial-intelligence algorithm trained on signals from people engaging in various, known activities. This algorithm was able to reconstruct moving digital portraits, called pose estimations, of the individuals in the room.

从这个前提出发，匹兹堡卡内基梅隆大学的耿佳琪（Jiaqi Geng，音译）、黄东（Dong Huang，音译）和费尔南多·德拉托雷（Fernando De la Torre）想知道他们是否可以使用Wi-Fi记录原本难以观察到的房间内人们的行为。正如他们在arXiv上发布的一篇论文中所描述的那样，他们发现这是可以做到的。这篇论文名为“DensePose from Wi-Fi”，介绍了他们在装有适当路由器的房间中获取Wi-Fi信号，通过一种人工智能算法，对进行各种已知活动的人的信号进行训练。这种算法能够重建房间里人的移动数字肖像，称为姿态估计。

表示“前提；假定”，英文解释为“a statement or an idea that forms the basis for a reasonable line of argument”，如：the basic premise of her argument 她的论证的基本前提，a false premise 错误的前提。

router /ˈruː.tər/ 表示“路由器”，英文解释为“a piece of electronic equipment that connects computer networks to each other, and sends information between networks”

摆pose这个词大家应该都比较熟悉，作名词，表示“（为拍照、画像等摆出的）样子，姿势”，英文解释为“a particular position in which a person stands, sits, etc. in order to be photographed, painted, etc.”

而pose作动词，1）表示“摆好姿势（拍照）”，英文解释为“to move into and stay in a particular position, in order to be photographed, painted, etc.”举个🌰：

We all posed for our photographs next to the Statue of Liberty. 我们都在自由女神像边摆好了姿势拍照。

2）表示“造成，引起（尤指问题或困难）”，英文解释为“to cause something, especially a problem or difficulty”举个🌰：

Nuclear weapons pose a threat to everyone. 核武器对所有的人都构成了威胁。

3）表示“（尤指在正式场合）提出（问题），质询”，英文解释为“to ask a question, especially in a formal situation such as a meeting”举个🌰：

Can we go back to the question that LR posed earlier? 我们能否回到LR早先提出的那个问题上去？（小作业做了吗？）

estimation /ˌes.tɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/ 表示“估计；判断；看法；（费用、尺寸、价值等的）估计，估测”，英文解释为“your opinion of someone or something；a guess or calculation about the cost, size, value, etc. of something”举个🌰：

In my estimation a lot of other banks are going to have the same problem. 据我判断，其他很多银行也将出现同样的问题。

Mr Geng, Dr Huang and Dr De la Torre are not the first to think of doing this. But they seem to have made a significant advance. Earlier experiments had managed to obtain two-dimensional (2D) pose estimations based on as many as 17 “vector points” on the body—such as head, chest, knees, elbows and hands. The new paper, by contrast, describes “2.5D” portraits that track 24 vector points (see picture). And, according Dr Huang, the team has now built an enhanced version capable of generating complete 3D body reconstructions that track thousands of vector points. Moreover, this work employed standard antennas of the sort used in household Wi-Fi routers. Previous efforts have relied on souped-up versions of the equipment.

耿先生、黄博士和德拉托雷博士并不是第一个想到这样做的人。但他们似乎已经取得了重大进展。早期实验已成功基于多达17个身体上的“矢量点”，如头部、胸部、膝盖、肘部和手部，实现二维（2D）姿态估计。相比之下，这篇新论文描述了跟踪24个矢量点的“2.5D”肖像（见图）。此外，根据黄博士的说法，该团队现在已经构建了一个增强版本，能够生成完整的3D身体重建，跟踪数千个矢量点。此外，这项工作使用了家用Wi-Fi路由器中采用的标准天线。以前的工作依赖于增强版设备。

vector /ˈvek.tər/ 表示“矢量；向量”，英文解释为“something physical such as a force that has size and direction”

作名词，表示“（录制在CD、唱片或磁带上的）一首歌曲; 一首乐曲”，英文解释为“A track is one of the songs or pieces of music on a CD, record, or tape.”举个🌰：

I only like two of the ten tracks on this CD. 我只喜欢这张CD上的10首歌曲中的2首。

📍周末多睡2小时抑郁风险降低48%文中作动词，1）表示“跟踪，追踪”，英文解释为“to follow a person or animal by looking for proof that they have been somewhere, or by using electronic equipment”；

2）表示“追踪，记录…的进展”，英文解释为“to record the progress or development of something over a period”举个🌰：

We continued tracking the plane on our radar. 我们继续用雷达追踪那架飞机。

🎬 电影《博物馆奇妙夜3》（Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb）中的台词提到：You're sort of set up to track my phone? You track my phone? 你装定位追踪我的手机？你竟然追踪我的手机？

antenna /ænˈtɛnə/ = aerial，表示“天线”，英文解释为“a piece of equipment made of wire or long straight pieces of metal for receiving or sending radio and television signals”。

📍提到天线，想到了童年的《天线宝宝》哈哈哈哈哈，英文名叫Teletubbies. 每个宝宝头上的天线形状还各不相同。

souped-up /ˌsuːptˈʌp/ 表示“（车辆或机器）经过增强的”，英文解释为“A souped-up vehicle or machine has been made more powerful or faster by having changes made to it.”如：a souped-up MiniChevy 增强型迷你雪佛兰。

Detailed Wi-Fi-based body-tracking with a standard-issue router would have many uses. Mr Geng, Dr Huang and Dr De la Torre talk of employing it to “monitor the well-being of elder people”. A team working on similar technology, led by Yili Ren of Florida State University, suggests it could be used in interactive gaming and exercise monitoring. And, in 2016, Dina Katabi, Mingmin Zhao and Fadel Adib of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated how Wi-Fi-like radio signals could detect a volunteer’s heartbeat (and thus his or her emotional state) remotely.

使用标准路由器进行基于Wi-Fi的详细身体追踪将有多种用途。耿先生、黄博士和德拉托雷博士谈到用它来“监测老年人的健康状况”。由佛罗里达州立大学的任伊利（Yili Ren，音译）带领的一个研究类似技术的团队表示，该技术可用于交互式游戏和运动监测。2016年，麻省理工学院计算机科学与人工智能实验室的迪娜·卡塔比（Dina Katabi）、赵明敏（Mingmin Zhao，音译）和法德尔·阿迪布（Fadel Adib）展示了类似Wi-Fi的无线电信号如何远程检测志愿者的心跳（及其情绪状态）。

表示“监视；检查；跟踪调查”，英文解释为“to watch and check sth over a period of time in order to see how it develops, so that you can make any necessary changes”举个🌰：

Each student's progress is closely monitored. 每一位同学的学习情况都受到密切的关注。

1）表示“交互的，人机对话的”，英文解释为“An interactive system or computer program is designed to involve the user in the exchange of information.”如：an interactive game/video 交互式游戏/视频；

2）表示“互动的”，英文解释为“involving communication between people”如：interactive teaching methods 互动式教学法。

These ideas are, however, distractions from what any such system would almost certainly be used for to start with, namely surveillance and espionage. In 2018, for example, Yanzi Zhu of the University of California, Santa Barbara and his colleagues showed how hackers posted outside someone’s home could track the movements (though not then visualise the postures) of people inside, by intercepting escaping Wi-Fi signals.

然而，这些想法分散了人们对任何此类系统几乎肯定会被用来进行监视和间谍活动的注意力。例如，2018年，加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的朱燕紫（Yanzi Zhu，音译）和他的同事展示了黑客如何通过劫持Wi-Fi信号，在别人家门外追踪里面人的行动（尽管当时还无法看到人的姿态）。

espionage /ˈespiənɑːʒ/ spy的同义词，表示“谍报活动，间谍行为”，英文解释为“the activity of secretly finding out secret information and giving it to a country’s enemies or a company’s competitors”，如：a campaign of industrial espionage against his main rival 针对他主要竞争对手展开的商业间谍活动。

📍counter-espionage表示“反间谍活动”（secret action taken by a country to prevent an enemy country from finding out its secrets）

🎬电影《藏身之所》（Safe House）中的台词提到：and is wanted for espionage on four continents. 现今在四大洲遭间谍罪通缉。

补充：

📍wanted通常是表示“（因犯罪）被警方通缉的”，英文解释为“being searched for by the police because of a crime”，举个🌰：

He's a wanted man. 他是个通缉犯。

1）作名词，表示“职位，职务”，英文解释为“a job in a company or organization”举个🌰：

Teaching posts are advertised in Tuesday's edition of the paper. 星期二的报纸上有招聘教师的广告。

📍二〇二一年新年贺词中提到“顽强不屈的坚守”时，原句：holding posts with tenacity. 其中posts指的是岗位，（坚守）岗位。

📍二〇二三年新年贺词：每个人都不容易中提到：Officials and the general public, particularly medical professionals and community workers, have bravely stuck to their posts through it all. 广大干部群众特别是医务人员、基层工作者不畏艰辛、勇毅坚守。

2）此外，经常在网上冲浪的就比较熟悉，post除了作名词，表示“网站上公布的信息；帖子”，英文解释为“something such as a message or picture that you publish on a website or using social media”，也可以作动词，表示“（在网站上）公布，发布（信息）；发（帖）”，英文解释为“to publish something such as a message or picture on a website or using social media”举个🌰：

Lots of friends have commented on my post. 很多小伙伴给我的帖子评论了。

3）作动词，表示“公布（公司）财务结果”，英文解释为“to announce a company's financial results”举个🌰：

The oil company posted profits of $25.1 billion. 石油公司公布利润为251亿美元。

4）作动词，还可以表示“派驻；使驻守”，英文解释为“to send someone to a particular place to work”举个🌰：

He's been posted to Pakistan for six months. 他被派到巴基斯坦工作6个月。

intercept /ˌɪn.təˈsept/ 表示“拦截，截住”，英文解释为“If you intercept someone or something that is travelling from one place to another, you stop them before they get to their destination.”举个🌰：

Gunmen intercepted him on his way to the airport. 持枪人在他去机场的路上截住了他。

In 2018, for example, Yanzi Zhu of the University of California, Santa Barbara and his colleagues showed how hackers posted outside someone’s home could track the movements (though not then visualise the postures) of people inside, by intercepting escaping Wi-Fi signals.

📍这句话看似很复杂，修饰的内容很多，其实拿掉无关紧要的内容，句子结构就很清晰了：Yanzi Zhu, xx and xx showed how hackers could track the movements of people inside.

📍一大难点是 posted outside someone’s home, 如何解释？过去分词作后置定语修饰hackers，指的是驻扎在别人家外面的黑客。

It is easy to imagine who might be interested in the ability to turn any building’s Wi-Fi network into a mini panopticon. Dr Huang declined to say who is sponsoring his team’s work. However, another of their projects—developing techniques for detecting specific human behaviours in video-surveillance footage—is paid for by IARPA, the research hub of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees America’s spies.

不难想象，谁会对把任何建筑物的Wi-Fi网络变成迷你全景监狱的能力感兴趣。黄博士拒绝透露是谁赞助了他团队的研究工作。然而，他们的另一个项目——开发在视频监控录像中检测特定人类行为的技术--由负责监督美国间谍的国家情报总监办公室的研究中心IARPA资助。

panopticon /pænˈɒp.tɪ.kən/ 表示“（看守室在中央的）全景监狱，环形监狱”，英文解释为“a prison with cells (= rooms) arranged in a circle, so that the people in them can be seen at all times from the centre”

表示“（描述某一事件的）片段镜头”，英文解释为“Footage of a particular event is a film of it or the part of a film which shows this event.”举个🌰：

They are planning to show exclusive footage from this summer's festivals. 他们计划独家播放今年夏季节日活动的片断镜头。

补充：

📍closed-circuit footage指的是监控录像画面；

📍CCTV：此CCTV非彼CCTV，其中的CC就是Closed Circuit的缩写，TV就是电视Television的缩写。

📍 那么CCTV，闭路电视什么意思呢？据维基百科，闭路电视（简称CCTV）是指在特定的区域进行视频传输，并只在固定回路设备里播放的电视系统。例如录像机、大楼内的监视器等。这类播放模式就被称作闭路电视。下次你可以观察下监控摄像头墙边上是不是有CCTV的字样。

intelligence /ɪnˈtel.ɪ.dʒəns/ 除了表示“智力，智慧”，还可以指“情报；情报人员”，英文解释为“secret information about the governments of other countries, especially enemy governments, or a group of people who collect and deal with this information”如：the Central Intelligence Agency 中央情报局。

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline "I spy, with my little Wi-Fi" (Jan 25th 2023)

- 今日盘点 -

undergo、subtle、encounter、akin、chirp、prey、premise、router、pose、estimation、vector、track、antenna、souped-up、monitor、interactive、surveillance、espionage、post、intercept、panopticon、footage、hub、intelligence

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