Title:  Non-contact Vital Signs Measurement and Patient Status Indication with Ultra-wideband Impulse Radar

Committee: 

Dr. Weitnauer, Advisor

Dr. Lanterman, Chair

Dr. Vidakovic

Abstract: The objective of the proposed research is to investigate the use of Impulse Radio Ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) Radar in non-contact, non-invasive vital signs monitoring. First, we present the first generic theoretical framework for modeling the IR-UWB radar received signal for arbitrary periodic displacement of the reflective interface such as the chest wall. Second, we develop various algorithms that range from a heuristic regime to the Bayesian filtering framework and that utilize the harmonics to estimate the respiration rate and/or heart rate. Performance of each algorithm is evaluated with experimental data. Third, the potential of extracting several other clinically significant metrics is proposed. Using our theoretical modeling framework, we propose to estimate the inpirationto-expiration ratio (IER) based on the observed radar received spectrum. In addition, a simple detector and quantifier of patient’s motion is developed utilizing the experimental IR-UWB radar vital signs signal that was previously solely used for HR and RR estimation.