3D Microwave Imaging of Human Biosigns and Hand Gestures using Antenna Arrays
Simon Scott, John Wawrzynek

Citation
Simon Scott, John Wawrzynek. "3D Microwave Imaging of Human Biosigns and Hand Gestures using Antenna Arrays". Talk or presentation, 14, October, 2015; Poster presented at the 2015 TerraSwarm Annual Meeting.

Abstract
This research focuses on creating three-dimensional images of a room and its occupants using microwaves. By continuously and ubiquitously imaging people, the system can detect anomalous conditions and react proactively. For example, if an elderly person were to fall, the imaging system would detect this and call 911. The system can also track changes in posture over time and may help to diagnose the early onset of certain bone or muscle conditions. Furthermore, the imaging system uses microwaves and hence is able to detect minute chest motions due to a person's heart and lungs, by measuring the Doppler shift. This allows the system to monitor heart and respiratory rate over a period of time and detect unhealthy trends. The imaging does not only have passive, health-monitoring applications: it can also actively detect hand gestures from users within the room, and hence allow people to interact with the "swarm" without needing a physical keyboard or mouse. The imaging system uses a 2D array of antennas, ideally printed on a flexible substrate, placed on one wall of a room. A single antenna transmits a RF tone in the range of 20GHz. The radio waves reflect off objects in the room, and the reflections are detected by other antennas in the array. A signal processing algorithm is then used to construct a 3D image of the room. Furthermore, by detecting the Doppler shift caused by moving objects in the room, a 3D image that contains velocity measurements for each object in the room can be created. To date, we have been able to capture images of metal sheets cut into various shapes, and human hand phantoms that were created using pig skin, with acceptable resolution and contrast. Work is currently in progress to measure the Doppler shift caused by small movements. Future work will include the operating system/API and applications that run on the antenna array imaging system.

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Citation formats

• HTML

  Simon Scott, John Wawrzynek. <a
  href="http://www.terraswarm.org/pubs/670.html"><i>3D
  Microwave Imaging of Human Biosigns and Hand Gestures using
  Antenna Arrays</i></a>, Talk or presentation, 
  14, October, 2015; Poster presented at the <a
  href="http://terraswarm.org/conferences/15/annual"
  >2015 TerraSwarm Annual Meeting</a>.

• Plain text

  Simon Scott, John Wawrzynek. "3D Microwave Imaging of
  Human Biosigns and Hand Gestures using Antenna Arrays".
  Talk or presentation,  14, October, 2015; Poster presented
  at the <a
  href="http://terraswarm.org/conferences/15/annual"
  >2015 TerraSwarm Annual Meeting</a>.

• BibTeX

  @presentation{ScottWawrzynek15_3DMicrowaveImagingOfHumanBiosignsHandGesturesUsingAntenna,
      author = {Simon Scott and John Wawrzynek},
      title = {3D Microwave Imaging of Human Biosigns and Hand
                Gestures using Antenna Arrays},
      day = {14},
      month = {October},
      year = {2015},
      note = {Poster presented at the <a
                href="http://terraswarm.org/conferences/15/annual"
                >2015 TerraSwarm Annual Meeting</a>.},
      abstract = {This research focuses on creating
                three-dimensional images of a room and its
                occupants using microwaves. By continuously and
                ubiquitously imaging people, the system can detect
                anomalous conditions and react proactively. For
                example, if an elderly person were to fall, the
                imaging system would detect this and call 911. The
                system can also track changes in posture over time
                and may help to diagnose the early onset of
                certain bone or muscle conditions. Furthermore,
                the imaging system uses microwaves and hence is
                able to detect minute chest motions due to a
                person's heart and lungs, by measuring the Doppler
                shift. This allows the system to monitor heart and
                respiratory rate over a period of time and detect
                unhealthy trends. The imaging does not only have
                passive, health-monitoring applications: it can
                also actively detect hand gestures from users
                within the room, and hence allow people to
                interact with the "swarm" without needing a
                physical keyboard or mouse. The imaging system
                uses a 2D array of antennas, ideally printed on a
                flexible substrate, placed on one wall of a room.
                A single antenna transmits a RF tone in the range
                of 20GHz. The radio waves reflect off objects in
                the room, and the reflections are detected by
                other antennas in the array. A signal processing
                algorithm is then used to construct a 3D image of
                the room. Furthermore, by detecting the Doppler
                shift caused by moving objects in the room, a 3D
                image that contains velocity measurements for each
                object in the room can be created. To date, we
                have been able to capture images of metal sheets
                cut into various shapes, and human hand phantoms
                that were created using pig skin, with acceptable
                resolution and contrast. Work is currently in
                progress to measure the Doppler shift caused by
                small movements. Future work will include the
                operating system/API and applications that run on
                the antenna array imaging system.},
      URL = {http://terraswarm.org/pubs/670.html}
  }
  

Posted by Simon Scott on 13 Oct 2015.