Time-lapse imaging of human heartbeats using UWB radar

Author

Brovoll, Sverre ; Berger, Theodore ; Paichard, Yoann ; Aardal, Oyvind ; Lande, Tor Sverre ; Hamran, Svein-Erik

Author_Institution

Norwegian Defence Res. Establ. (FFI), Kjeller, Norway

fYear

2013

fDate

Oct. 31 2013-Nov. 2 2013

Firstpage

142

Lastpage

145

Abstract

Radar systems for detection of human heartbeats have mostly been single-channel systems with limited spatial resolution. In this paper, a radar for ultra-wideband (UWB) imaging of dynamic reflectors inside the human body is presented. To make the radar waves penetrate the human tissue a body-contact antenna is used. The antenna is an array with eight elements, and an antenna switch system connects the radar to the individual elements in sequence to form an image. Successive images are used to build up a time-lapse movie of the beating heart with a frame rate of 25 Hz. Measurements on a human test subject are presented and heartbeat waveforms are extracted at specific locations inside the body. The experiments indicate sufficient resolution for observation of different moving parts of the heart and may provide basis for live diagnosis.

Keywords

biological tissues; biomedical imaging; cardiovascular system; diseases; ultra wideband radar; UWB radar systems; antenna switch system; body-contact antenna; dynamic reflectors; frequency 25 Hz; heartbeat waveforms; human body; human heartbeat detection; human tissue; patient diagnosis; radar waves; time-lapse imaging; time-lapse movie; ultra-wideband imaging; Antenna measurements; Arrays; Heart; Imaging; Radar antennas; Radar imaging;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS), 2013 IEEE

Conference_Location

Rotterdam

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/BioCAS.2013.6679659

Filename

6679659