Integrated Radar Systems for Precision Monitoring of Heartbeat and

Respiratory Status
Lydia Chioukh#, Halim Boutayeb#, Lin Li#, L`Hocine Yahia* and Ke Wu#
#
Poly-GRAMES Research Center, Department of Electrical Engineering
Center for Radiofrequency Electronics Research of Quebec (CREER)
Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal, Québec, Canada
Lydia.chioukh@polymtl.ca
*
Laboratory for the Innovation and Analysis of Bioperformance (LIAB )
Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal, Québec, Canada

Abstract — This work presents simulation and measurement different frequencies. Then, we present the three systems
results of the vital sign parameters based on low-power operating at ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) bands,
microwave and millimeter-wave monitoring systems through namely, 5.8 GHz, 24 GHz and 35 GHz. Our 5.8 GHz system
Doppler radar techniques. The cardiac beating and the uses a single high gain antenna and a feed-forward type
breathing of patients are examined. Three systems operating at
5.8 GHz, 24 GHz and 35 GHz, respectively, are designed, branch-line coupler which reduces a potential Tx leakage and
simulated, and fabricated. Using such three systems and increases the probability of detection. The 24 GHz system
applying signal processing techniques, measured signals uses two horn antennas for the transmission and the reception
obtained at distance up to 1 m from the patient of reference are and the 35 GHz system deploys the SIW (Substrate
presented. These results show that the heartbeat and the Integrated Waveguide) technology for the structure design
frequency of breath are well detected which validates our radar
with a single antenna and a circulator. Using those three
analysis and design approach. Performances (sensitivity,
complexity, etc.) of the different systems are compared and different systems, and applying signal processing techniques,
studied, showing that the highest sensitivity detection can be measured signals obtained at distance up to 1 m from a
achieved with the system at the highest frequency (35 GHz) in patient of reference are presented. These results show that the
this case. heartbeat and the frequency of breath are well detected which
Index Terms — Vital sign detection, Doppler radar, non-linear validate our analysis and design. The performances
transfer function, continuous-wave (CW). (sensitivity, complexity, etc.) of the different systems are also
compared.
I. INTRODUCTION
Since the 1970’s, biomedical applications of RF and II. DOPPLER RADAR PRINCIPLE
microwave systems have attracted much attention. In 1975 The system diagram used in this work is shown in Fig. 1. It
[1], a bio-radar sensor was first applied for the measurement is based on the Doppler radar concept that has in fact been
of respiration rate and the detection of apnea. That system well documented and it measures the modulation of phase of
was based on simple sweep generators and used animals as the reflected signal due to a movement. This radar system
experimental objects. Today, highly complex and compact consists of a transmitter, an antenna, a receiver, and signal
integrated circuits for human being applications have been processing hardware and/or software.
proposed [2]. Typical applications include the detection of
human vital signals such as respiration and heartbeat for
medical and rescue purposes [3, 4]. The main advantage of
these systems is that they do not require a direct contact with
the skin of patients. This characteristic allows following the
vital functions of several persons at the same time with a
single system. In addition, using these systems, it is possible
to give an alarm much more fast in the case of a sleep apnea
or the syndrome of a sudden death for a just born. They also
allow watching continuously the vital functions of a foetus
during critical pregnancies, for example. Such systems have
also been studied for surveillance in high security zones or
Fig. 1. Simplified Doppler-radar system block diagram
for searching survivors after earthquakes or others disasters.
This work presents results of three systems at different
The transmitter generates a CW signal T(t) which can be
frequencies which use the Doppler radar principle for
monitoring human vital signals. First, we analyze the written as: T  t  cos  2Sft  I  t   (1)
penetration of electromagnetic waves in human tissues at The phase shift of the reflected signal is proportional to the

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 time-varying chest position x(t) [5]. A positive value of x(t) The frequency-dependent dielectric property and penetration
corresponds to a retracting chest cavity, or an exhale. depth of human tissue have already been studied in [7,8].
Assuming x(t) is a single movement, it can be represented as Figure 3 shows the penetration of electromagnetic waves
[6]: x  t  xr  t   xh  t  (2) in human tissues at different frequencies. It can be noticed
where xr(t) and xh(t) are due to respiration and heartbeat, that at low frequency the wave can penetrate into the body
respectively: and the greater part of reflection occurs at tissues inside the
body. At high frequency, a major part of the incident wave is
x r  t  m r cos  Y r t  (3)
reflected back by the skin [7].
xh  t  m h cos  Y h t  (4)
When the target undergoes a periodic movement x(t) with no
net velocity, a phase modulation appears. The received signal
B (t) can be expressed as [5, 6] :
B. Amplitude of measured respiration and heartbeat signals
Using Eq. (6), the theoretical detected heartbeat strength as
a function of different carrier frequency is shown in Fig. 4.
§ 4Sx r  t  4Sx h  t  · The amplitude of a respiration-induced body movement is
B  t  cos ¨   I¸ (5) considered ranging from 0.8 mm to 1.8 mm. The amplitude
© O O ¹ of a heartbeat-induced body movement was assumed to be mh
It can also be written in its equivalent Fourier series form [5, = 0.08 mm, which is a typical value for ordinary people [6].
6]:
ª f f § 4Smr · jltYr § 4Smh · jktYr jI º
B  t  Re « ¦ ¦ J l ¨ ¸ e Jk ¨ ¸e e » (6)
¬ k f l f © O ¹ © O ¹ ¼
where Jn is the Bessel function of the first kind.

Fig. 4. Amplitude of detected heartbeat signal vs carrier frequency.

Fig. 2. Theoretical baseband spectrum
Figure 2 shows the theoretical baseband spectrum based on
the above equations and analysis; r1, r2, r3: breathing
fundamental. The 2nd and the 3rd harmonics; h1: heartbeat
fundamental; c1 and c2 are the lower and upper sideband
caused by intermodulation of r1 and h1. The normal
respiration rate is (0.1a0.8 Hz) and heartbeat rate is (0.8a3
Hz) [6].
At frequency lower than 18 GHz, the amplitude of the
detected heartbeat signal increases with the carrier frequency.
The absolute-null-points of detection are caused by the null
points of the Bessel function [6]. For this reason, the null
points suggest a good use of frequency band of interest 20-
27 GHz. Thus, an operation frequency of 24 GHz could be a
possible good candidate due to its location in the
standardized frequency (ISM band) and also a good
availability of high-performance off-the-shelf components.

III. ELECTROMAGNETIC RESPONSE OF HUMAN BODY

IV. MEASUREMENT SETUPS
In the next subsections, we will study the wave reflection
by a human body and the amplitude of measured vital signals. A. 5.8 GHz system
A. Penetration and reflection of electromagnetic wave

Fig. 3. Electromagnetic wave penetration in human tissues at

different frequency (lung 85mm, muscle 35mm, fat 5mm, skin Fig. 5. Experimental setup of our prototype at 5.8 GHz
5mm).

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 The system operating at 5.8 GHz is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. It
consists of 18 dB gain patch array antenna and a feed-
forward type branch-line coupler which reduces the Tx
leakage. Free space path loss for this experiment is about 43
dB.

Fig. 9. Prototype and experimental setup at 35 GHz

Fig. 6. Photograph of the radar prototype operating at 5.8 GHz

B. 24 GHz system
In this system, two 15 dB gain horn antennas were used for
transmitting and receiving the signal. The prototype setup is
shown in Fig. 7 and a photograph is given in Fig. 8. Fig. 10. Photograph of the radar prototype at 35 GHz

Fig.7. Prototype and experimental setup at 24 GHz
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
To validate the proposed systems of different architectures
for the same purposes, measurements were carried out using
an adult person seating at 1m in front of those radars.
Figs. 11.a and 11.b. shows the time domain voltage
waveform and its spectrum of the output signal for the system
operating at 5.8 GHz.
For the system operating at 24GHz, the measured results in
both frequency and time domains are shown in Figs.12.a and
12.b.

Fig.8. Photograph of the radar prototype at 24GHz

An FFT algorithm is applied to the collected data in time

domain to extract the spectra of the detected signals. The Fig. 11. a) Time domain waveform of the radar output at 5.8GHz.
spectra of the Doppler frequencies are mainly composed of b) FFT results of the detected signal.
respiration frequency, because the movement of chest caused
by the movement of lungs represents a large component
compared with the movement caused by the heartbeat.
C. 35 GHz system
The radar used for these measurements has a single slot
array antenna with 21 dB gain. The input signal power is 20
dBm. The radar is illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10.
The frequency of 35 GHz should offer a higher detection Fig. 12. a) Time domain waveform of the radar output at 24GHz.
sensitivity for a small movement due to its shorter b) FFT results of the detected signal.
wavelength. Free space path loss for this experiment is Two measurements were carried out with the system
roughly 63 dB. operating at 35 GHz. In the first measurement, a person was
seated and asked to sit with breathing for 50 seconds. In the
second experiment, the same person was asked to stop
breathing during 50 seconds.

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 The measured data with and without breathing are shown in
Figs. 13 and 14, respectively.
By comparing Figs. 11 to 13, it is clear that the system
operating at 35 GHz allows a better detection of respiration
due to a higher reflection of the electromagnetic wave at the
air-skin interface The heartbeat can also be very well
detected when the patient stop breathing.
Fig. 13. a) Time domain waveform of the radar output at 35GHz
b) FFT results of the detected signal
VII. CONCLUSION
Design procedures and results for three non-contact vital
signal detection systems of different architecture have been
presented. The three systems operate at ISM frequencies,
namely, 5.8 GHz, 24 GHz and 35 GHz. The measured data
show that the 35 GHz system allows the detection of the
respiration rate in a more accurate way than with the others
systems. Measurements under different breathing
circumstances have also been carried out, showing that the
heartbeat can be detected very precisely when the patient stop
breathing during a few seconds. A further comparison among
those systems of the same architecture is necessary for a
systematic investigation. In addition, a more sophiscated
signal processing technique should be used to differentiate
the heartbeat and respiratory rate in a simultaneous way.
The proposed radar systems have potential applications in
health care and surveillance.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank prototyping assistance
from Jules Gauthier and Steve Dube. Financial Support from
NSERC and FQRNT is greatly appreciated for this work.

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The measured results for our three systems are shown in
Table I, showing that the proposed systems pose no risk to
human being.

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