Quantifying Human Indoor Activity Using a Software Radio-Based Radar

Human activity quantification consists of computing a numerical or qualitative metric that indicates the amount of movement a person engaged in a given time interval. Such a metric has important applications in elderly care, wellness and healthcare given the strong empirical relation between a person´s health and his or her activity level. This paper proposes and evaluates methods to quantify the level of human activity in an indoor environment using a continuous wave radar. An experimental evaluation is carried out using a flexible and low-cost software defined radar platform. Results showed a good correlation between the proposed metrics and the motion sequence performed by the subject suggesting that accurate activity quantification in indoor environments can be achieved using a few simple off-body sensors.