Are there cameras that see microwaves?

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There are cameras that can see infrared and ultraviolet, what about microwaves and other wavelengths?

If we had a camera that only images microwaves for example, could we see wi-fi and Bluetooth as they reflect off surfaces?

What are the main limitations of building something like this? Is it the size difference between wavelength and sensor size?

In: Physics

11 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes absolutely, but the resolution will be on the order of centimeters, whereas visible light has resolution on the order of a micrometer, so 10,000x smaller. There are absolutely far infrared cameras, basically thermal optics. The amount of microwaves emitted by typical materials at typical temperatures is so miniscule I can’t think of an application we’re you would want to build an imaging system for a human sized object. Cell towers have a sort of microwave imaging so they can determine the direction of a target and do beam steering. In that case the “image” the whole space around the tower within range.

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