A non-contact vital sign monitoring system for ambulances using dual-frequency microwave radars

We developed a novel non-contact monitoring system to measure the vital signs of casualties inside a moving ambulance. This system was designed to prevent exposure of patients to infectious organisms under biochemical hazard conditions. The system consists of two microwave radars: a 10-GHz respiratory-monitoring radar is positioned 20 cm away from the surface of the isolator. The 24-GHz cardiac-monitoring radar is positioned below the stretcher underneath the isolator. The subject (22.13 +/- 0.99 years) was placed inside the isolator on a stretcher in the simulated ambulance. While the ambulance was in motion at a speed of approximately 10 km/h, the heart rates determined by the cardiac-monitoring radar correlated significantly with those measured by ECG (r = 0.69, p < 0.01), and the respiratory rates derived from the respiratory-monitoring radar correlated with those measured by the respiration curves (r = 0.97, p < 0.0001). The proposed system appears promising for future on-ambulance monitoring of the vital sign of casualties exposed to toxins.