Multi-channel processing of RFID backscattering for monitoring of overnight living

Movement detection of human body is a fertile research field in human-computer interaction, as well as in medical and entertainment applications. Moving limbs within an electromagnetic field radiated by an interrogating antenna will generate a modulation of the backscattered field detected by a receiver. The measured signals may therefore carry raw information about the human motion and behavior. Moreover, the proper placement of UHF passive Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) tags over body segments will increase the amount of collected signals. This paper investigates the possibility to detect the quality and phenomenology of the sleep by processing the multichannel power data coming from a set of wearable passive radio-sensors placed onto the sleeper´s clothes as well as over the bed and onto the nearby carpets. The resulting ambient-intelligence system is characterized by numerical electromagnetic models as well as by extensive experimentations.