Non-line-of-sight tracking of people at long range
This enables applications like search and rescue and autonomous driving by allowing remote sensing of hidden objects, representing a significant advancement over previous short-range methods.
The paper tackles the problem of tracking hidden people at long distances, achieving the ability to track one or more individuals out of direct line of sight at over 50 meters using a system based on single laser illumination and single-photon detection.
A remote-sensing system that can determine the position of hidden objects has applications in many critical real-life scenarios, such as search and rescue missions and safe autonomous driving. Previous work has shown the ability to range and image objects hidden from the direct line of sight, employing advanced optical imaging technologies aimed at small objects at short range. In this work we demonstrate a long-range tracking system based on single laser illumination and single-pixel single-photon detection. This enables us to track one or more people hidden from view at a stand-off distance of over 50~m. These results pave the way towards next generation LiDAR systems that will reconstruct not only the direct-view scene but also the main elements hidden behind walls or corners.