Design of a UWB radar system for remote breath activity monitoring

In this work a ultra wideband radar for breath activity monitoring has been designed taking into account the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) emission mask for medical imaging devices. The design has been performed by using a theoretical model that, starting from the characteristics of a specifically developed antenna and considering the FCC mask, allows the evaluation of the source signal shape, amplitude and repetition rate. Moreover, exploiting information on the human body radar cross section, the model has been used to predict the signal reaching the receiver after the body reflection. The designed radar has been implemented by using an indirect time domain reflectometry system and tested for breath activity monitoring. The radar has been able to monitor the breath activity of a subject in agreement with spirometry results.