The US Air Force has come up with a wideband RADAR system that will allow them to identify or authenticate a person by analyzing their bone structure. Just like fingerprints, a skeletal structure of a person is a unique biological characteristic that can be used to authenticate the person. Each individual person has their own unique skeletal structure (based on a size and/or a position of the bones).

The wideband RADAR system invented by the US air force uses electromagnetic radiation in order to generate a biometric signature for a user. The biometric signature for each user is unique as per their skeletal structure. The wideband RADAR system uses electromagnetic radiations of frequency and power spectral density in a range such that the electromagnetic radiations penetrate through the skin tissues, muscles, and fat of a user’s body in order to reach the bones but do not overheat any human tissue.

The wideband RADAR system includes a turnable chamber in an anechoic chamber where a user will stand straight for generating the biometric signature. Further, the wideband RADAR system transmits an EM radiation of a certain frequency and power spectral density towards the user in the turnable chamber. The EM radiation may penetrate through the skin tissues, muscles, and fat of the user’s body in order to reach the bones. Further, some of the EM radiation gets absorbed by the bones whereas some EM radiation reflects towards the receiver based on a size and a location of the bone. Further, the turnable chamber rotates at a steady speed allowing the receiver to collect EM radiations reflected from every bone of the user’s body, as shown in the figure below. Further, the EM radiation received by the receiver is analyzed by the network analyzer. The network analyzer processes the EM radiation received by the receiver and converts the data into a useful information that is used by the computing device to generate the biometric signature of the user.

This technology will allow the US Air Force to quickly authenticate users without requiring them to undergo elaborate authentication protocols.

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