A Wi-Fi router that can measure your heartbeat sounds like the premise of science fiction—but it’s real. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, recently demonstrated “Pulse-Fi,” a system that detects minute fluctuations in radio signals caused by the rise and fall of the chest, reading heart rate with clinical-level accuracy using components that cost less than $30. Radar, LiDAR, and other sensing technologies are joining Wi-Fi in this new frontier—each capable of reading motion, heat, or pulse without physical contact. Together they’re redefining what it means to monitor health. For veterinary medicine, where stress and handling can distort vital signs or harm welfare, the implications are profound. The air itself is becoming the monitor.
The science of seeing without touching
These systems all rely on how energy—whether radio, light, or sound—interacts with living bodies. Understanding their core principles shows why they’re so powerful and why they matter for both animal and human health:
- Wi-Fi sensing: Wi-Fi devices emit radio waves that reflect off surrounding surfaces. Subtle phase shifts in those reflections—on the scale of fractions of a millimeter—change as a body moves or breathes. Algorithms analyze these variations to detect respiration, heart rate, and even posture, transforming ordinary routers into passive biomedical sensors.
- Radar: Radar sends higher-frequency radio waves and measures the time delay and frequency change (the Doppler effect) of the returning signal. It can calculate distance, velocity, and micro-motions such as chest expansion during breathing. Radar systems already track infant respiration, driver alertness, and patient movement—and could soon monitor animals in barns or trailers with millimeter precision.
- LiDAR: Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) emits rapid pulses of laser light, measuring the time each takes to bounce back. It builds a detailed three-dimensional map of surfaces, capturing gait, conformation, and subtle tremors invisible to the eye. Originally designed for self-driving vehicles, LiDAR now assists in robotic surgery and agricultural mapping.
- Optical and thermal imaging: Cameras tuned to visible and infrared wavelengths detect color and temperature changes linked to blood flow, inflammation, or fever. Thermal cameras already identify mastitis in dairy cattle and lameness in horses, showing how light-based sensing can reveal physiology without restraint.
- Ultrasonic and acoustic sensing: Sound waves—whether audible or ultrasonic—can monitor breathing, coughing, or stress calls. Combined with radio or optical data, they help distinguish normal activity from signs of pain or illness.
“Cross-industry innovation like this will reshape veterinary care as profoundly as digital radiography once did. The cost curve has collapsed, and the sensors are already everywhere.” — Mark F. Magazu II, MPA, JD, Principal, Strategy & Transformation
Why contactless systems matter for veterinary medicine
Wearables and electrodes don’t always work for animals—they slip, stress the patient, or interfere with natural behavior. Contactless sensing bypasses those barriers. It can observe animals continuously, quietly, and safely in their own environments. In doing so, it redefines what “clinical observation” can mean: information without intrusion, welfare without compromise.
How the technologies fit together
Each sensing method captures a different aspect of reality. Radio waves reveal motion beneath fur, LiDAR maps the body’s shape, and optical systems show surface heat or color changes. Combined through AI, they create a composite understanding of life signs and behavior—an integrated, multimodal view of health. In human hospitals, radar and optical fusion already track neonatal breathing and sleep quality; the same principle could soon extend to stables, shelters, and homes shared by people and pets.
“Integrating contactless sensing into practice isn’t about gadgets—it’s about removing friction. It keeps clinicians’ attention on the patient, not the equipment.” — Melissa Magazu-Johnsonbaugh, Principal, Practice & Standards
Veterinary opportunities: five domains of impact
As the technology matures, veterinary medicine will benefit across five broad domains, each built on a shared principle of observation without restraint:
1) Vital-sign monitoring
Principle: Continuous, non-invasive tracking of heart rate, respiration, and motion. Examples include radar arrays above ICU cages, Wi-Fi respiration mapping for anesthesia recovery, and thermal overlays that visualize fever or inflammation in real time.
2) Behavior and welfare analytics
Principle: Objective, data-driven insight into stress, rest, and social interaction. LiDAR and radar can track pacing, restlessness, or altered posture in horses, while optical sensors detect eye or ear movements associated with distress. Such signals could supplement behavior scoring and welfare audits.
3) Diagnostics and imaging adjuncts
Principle: Complement clinical exams with passive, contextual data. LiDAR aids orthopedic evaluation, radar stabilizes ultrasound imaging by compensating for breathing motion, and thermal or optical sensors help visualize perfusion during wound healing.
4) Biosecurity and safety
Principle: Reduce contact and disease transmission through remote observation. Contactless systems could monitor quarantine wards, detect early respiratory clusters in barns, and trigger alerts before pathogens spread.
5) Education and precision training
Principle: Bring live physiological data into teaching and simulation. Students might watch respiration and circulation visualized in real time during procedures, linking anatomy and physiology directly through light and motion.
“Veterinary professionals must lead the standards conversation now—before the technology defines itself without us.” — Mark F. Magazu, DVM, Principal, Leadership & Governance
Challenges and guardrails
Adapting these technologies for animals presents unique challenges. Species differences affect how signals behave—fur density, size, and movement can distort readings. Multi-animal environments complicate identification and data separation. Integrating these systems into practice software requires new interoperability standards, and privacy rules will need to evolve to govern shared human-animal spaces. IEEE and ISO are developing human-centric sensing standards, but veterinary frameworks do not yet exist. Leadership from within the profession will be essential to ensure accuracy, ethics, and equity as these tools become mainstream.
The road ahead
The next generation of clinics, farms, and homes will hum quietly with invisible perception. Wi-Fi routers, LiDAR units, and radar modules will not replace the veterinarian—they will amplify their reach. Each pulse of radio or light will carry insight: a heartbeat, a breath, a motion that means something. The goal is not surveillance but empathy—technology that listens so clinicians can understand sooner, act faster, and touch less. When the air itself becomes the monitor, care becomes continuous, everywhere, and deeply humane.
