Cardiopulmonary Effective Radar Cross Section (ERCS) for Orientation of Sedentary Subject Using Microwave Doppler Radar

Effective radar cross-section (ERCS) for microwave Doppler radar, is defined by the reflected power from sections of the human body that undergo physiological motion. This paper investigates ERCS for human cardiopulmonary motion of sedentary subjects at three different positions (front, back and side with respect to radar). While human breathing and heartbeat can be measured from all four sides of the body, the characteristics of measured signals will vary with body orientation. Thus, continuous wave radar with quadrature architecture at 2. 4GHz was used to test a sedentary subject for three minutes from three different orientations: front, back and side with respect to radar. The results obtained from the tests showed that physiological motion could be obtained and that distinct patterns emerge due to the differences in the ERCS for each orientation. For the seated subject, back ERCS was higher than for front and side positions. Determining ERCS changes with position may enable determining body orientation with respect to the radar. This research opens further opportunities for development of high-resolution occupancy sensing and emergency search and rescue sensing, where the orientation of a human subject may be unknown ahead of time.