Radar may soon find its way into more personal technology than Google’s smart phones and speakers. 9to5Google grades Google, Ford and four other partners have Published specifications for a Ripple standard that could bring small radars to more devices in a “privacy-friendly” way. The framework, hosted by the Consumer Technology Association, theoretically allows any device manufacturer to use small-scale radars for tasks ranging from existing uses such as touchless gesture control and health monitoring to exercise tracking and even occupancy detection in buildings.
First details are currently available. by GitHub, with a focus on interoperability between radar types. Developers will initially have to add special use cases through extensions, but the Ripple team hopes to build these add-ons into later versions of the pattern.
The involvement of Google and Ford is logical. Both have already used radar when shipping products such as the Nest Hub or Ford’s Co-Pilot 360. The more industry-wide support there is for the radar, the more customers are likely to look for it in companies’ products. Still, it can be genuinely useful if the radar becomes more than a rare but not essential bonus feature.
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