Rice University develops MetaHeart device to counter radar-based heart rate surveillance
Researchers at Rice University developed MetaHeart, a programmable metasurface device that spoofs millimeter-wave radar systems by reflecting fabricated heartbeat patterns, achieving over 98% accuracy in misleading the surveillance systems in lab tests. The research explores vulnerabilities in radar-based biometric sensing and demonstrates a potential countermeasure to protect privacy against unwanted heart rate monitoring.
What happened
Researchers at Rice University, led by Edward Knightly, developed MetaHeart, a programmable metasurface device designed to counter radar-based heart rate surveillance. The device reflects fabricated heartbeat patterns back to millimeter-wave radar systems, spoofing the tracker's measurements.
Reported impact
Off-the-shelf millimeter-wave radars can be used to monitor heart rate, breathing, and movement patterns to determine a target's presence and infer stress, fatigue, or emotional state. MetaHeart demonstrates a potential countermeasure against this surveillance capability.
Index analysis
In lab tests using a 77-gigahertz radar, MetaHeart achieved above 98% accuracy in spoofing heartbeat inferences. The metasurface can also make it appear that someone is present when they are not.
Governance controls
Researchers noted that as sensing technologies become higher resolution and more pervasive, concerns about privacy vulnerabilities should be taken seriously. The study aimed to explore potential vulnerabilities and consider how they might be addressed.
Classification
Sources and evidence
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