Searching for Survivors through Random Human-Body Movement Outdoors by Continuous-Wave Radar Array

Area of Science:

• Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Radar Technology

Background:

• Searching for survivors after disasters like chemical or nuclear events is challenging.
• Current biological radar systems struggle with detecting respiration signals due to random survivor positioning and body movements.
• The random posture of injured individuals can lead to radar waves irradiating extremities, hindering signal detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an omnidirectional detection system for locating survivors in challenging rescue environments.
• To overcome limitations of existing biological radar systems in detecting respiration signals amidst random body movements and positioning.
• To enhance the reliability of survivor detection in outdoor disaster scenarios.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a multichannel-based antenna array technology with 24-GHz Doppler biological radar.
• Development of a method to identify random human-body movement using multichannel information and background variance calculation.
• Application of a constant-false-alarm-rate detector to filter out environmental interference.

Main Results:

• The developed system achieves omnidirectional detection of random human-body movement.
• The system successfully distinguishes subtle breathing movements from significant body movements and environmental noise (e.g., leaves, grass).
• Outdoor experiments validated the system's effectiveness in realistic rescue conditions.

Conclusions:

• The multichannel Doppler radar system offers a promising solution for omnidirectional survivor detection.
• The proposed methods effectively address challenges posed by random survivor positioning and body movements.
• This technology has significant potential for improving outdoor search and rescue operations.