Movement and respiration detection using statistical properties of the FMCW radar signal

This paper presents a 24 GHz FMCW radar system for detection of movement and respiration using change in the statistical properties of the received radar signal, both amplitude and phase. We present the hardware and software segments of the radar system as well as algorithms with measurement results for two distinct use-cases: 1. FMCW radar as a respiration monitor and 2. a dual-use of the same radar system for smart lighting and intrusion detection. By using change in statistical properties of the signal for detection, several system parameters can be relaxed, including, for example, pulse repetition rate, power consumption, computational load, processor speed, and memory space. We will also demonstrate, that the capability to switch between received signal strength and phase difference enables dual-use cases with one requiring extreme sensitivity to movement and the other robustness against small sources of interference.