Design and Experimental Demonstration of an Integrated Sensing and Communication System for Vital Sign Detection

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Vital sign monitoring is crucial for healthcare, security, and disaster response.
• Existing radar systems for vital sign detection face challenges in communication infrastructure, especially during search and rescue (SAR) operations.
• Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) systems offer a dual-functionality approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and demonstrate a novel method for vital sign detection using an ISAC system.
• To leverage orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals for simultaneous sensing and communication.
• To validate the system's effectiveness in detecting respiratory and heartbeat rates.

Main Methods:

• Developed an ISAC demonstration system utilizing software-defined radios (SDRs).
• Employed specially designed OFDM signals for simultaneous sensing and communication.
• Processed reflected OFDM signals to estimate micro-Doppler effects caused by human respiration and heartbeat.

Main Results:

• Accurately detected vital signs, including respiration and heartbeat rates, using a 1 MHz bandwidth OFDM signal.
• Confirmed the accuracy of the vital sign detection against conventional contact-based methods.
• Verified the dual-function capability of OFDM signals for sensing and communication.

Conclusions:

• The proposed ISAC system effectively detects vital signs and maintains communication links simultaneously.
• The developed OFDM-based method shows significant potential for enhancing SAR operations in challenging environments.
• This approach can be broadly applied to wider ISAC systems for various monitoring and rescue applications.