Modified silicon base station chips as biomedical sensors

Subcircuits designed for DCS1800/PCS1900 base stations have been reconfigured into single-chip Doppler radar transceivers. Three of these radar chips have been fully integrated in 0.25 /spl mu/m silicon CMOS and BiCMOS, and they have been used to remotely monitor heart and respiration activity. These radar chips have detected heartbeat and respiration rate 50 cm from the subject, which may be useful in home monitoring, continuous monitoring, and physiological research.