Object Illusion in Complex Electromagnetic Wave Environments (OBLICUE)

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The ability to detect the presence and shape of arbitrary objects is of paramount importance in imaging technologies as well as in localisation for the future generation of wireless networks. This capability currently stands on sophisticated digital signal processing algorithms that process and somehow invert the signal backscattered from a target. While most of the research effort has to date focused on improving accuracy and efficiency of these algorithms, a key question that remains is whether we are able to hide an object from imaging/localisation technologies.Inherently, there is a strong need to protect electronic devices from external attacks in the context of electromagnetic compatibility, and data sniffing in the context of wireless communications. One might think that the extensive research in optics and electromagnetics to achieve cloaking of objects is the way forward to hide objects. However, this technology never achieves a perfect concealing of the object and is only designed to operate in free-space. The transformative idea that we put forward here avoids using a cloak and stands on dressing part of the environment boundary with anomalous mirrors. A system of those mirrors create the illusion of object displacement by shaping the electromagnetic wavefront. The reflection mask defining the mirror configurations will be engineered using advanced mathematical methods developed in the fields of quantum and statistical mechanics.