The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has opened the regulatory doors for the development of a new generation of wireless technology capable of feats as noble as saving lives and as potentially threatening as watching us inside our homes.

On Feb. 14, 2002, the FCC unanimously approved a First Report and Order that permits the marketing and operation of certain types of new products incorporating ultrawideband (“UWB”) technology. UWB is basically an advanced form of radar that operates by producing billions of short duration, low-powered radio frequency pulses. An operating example of a UWB device is this ground penetrating radar system for landmine detection. 

An FCC press release touts UWB as paving the way for, "a vast array of new applications that have the potential to provide significant benefits for public safety, businesses and consumers in a variety of applications such as radar imaging of objects buried under the ground or behind walls and short-range, high-speed data transmissions."

The FCC approval process of ultrawideband took more than three years, during which developers were required to satisfy fears that the high-speed transmissions would interfere with the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS), now critical to the safe navigation of everything from hikers, to airliners, to B-2 bombers and cruise missiles.

Good Genie
Some clearly beneficial applications of UWB include:

• devices to help rescue workers locate victims trapped in collapsed buildings 
• medical imaging systems capable of "seeing" inside the body in real time 
• systems for finding structural problems in buildings, bridges, dams and other structures
• collision-detection and avoidance radar systems for cars, trucks and busses
• extremely high-speed, short-range wireless data and voice transmission

Not So Good Genie?
Probably viewed as not so clearly beneficial by civil liberties and personal privacy groups is a developing application of UWB dubbed "through-wall imaging systems."

According to the FCC, through-wall imaging systems can "detect the location or movement of persons or objects that are located on the other side of a structure such as a wall."

Since conventional concealed cameras would no longer be needed, officials using through-wall imaging devices could monitor the movement of persons inside buildings without ever having to physically enter the building. 

While federal regulators are quick to emphasize that operation of through-wall imaging systems will be limited to law enforcement and emergency services, the potential threat to personal privacy posed by a device capable of remotely monitoring the movement of individuals inside their homes should not, and probably will not, be overlooked.