Extending the range of phased array non-contact vital signs monitoring in an office cubicle setting

Doppler-based non-contact vital signs (NCVS) sensor systems have the ability to monitor heart and respiration rates of patients without physically contacting them. Because the accuracy of a NCVS sensor can deteriorate rapidly with distance when in a noisy or cluttered environment, we developed a highly directive phased-array antenna NCVS system capable of increasing the accuracy and the monitoring distance in a realistic office cubical setting. The NCVS system prototype can achieve heart rate accuracies close to 90% within ±2 BPM for continuous monitoring at distances up to 2 meters.