UWB radar sensor to monitor heart physiology

Feasibility for noncontact monitoring of major cardiovascular physiology using ultra-wideband radar sensors is studied in computer simulations. A full-wave electromagnetic model of a human chest with a heart of variable blood filling volume is developed. The model is then simulated for several discrete volumes of heart blood filling. Computed subsequent radar returns are modulated by heart motions at different cardiac phases but heavily masked by background scattering. The recorded radar returns are processed using the developed algorithm to extract physiological information that can be linked to ventricle heart blood volume and heart electrical activity associated with ECG.