Stepped-FM UWB sensor system for health-care support

Health-care support at home and care facilities is a very important issue in many developed countries because of the arrival of increasingly aging society. The increase in accidents and sudden illness such as heart attach involving the elderly person is a matter of great concern and the requirement for monitoring their vital signs is especially increasing. In this work, we have developed a stepped-FM UWB sensor system which can detect the breathing rate as well as movement of multiple persons in a room. It estimates some trajectories of moving persons within a room, then localizes and monitors multiple persons. While sleeping, therefore, it can also detect the breathing rate from very tiny motions. Measurements were conducted for two scenarios with multiple subjects. The results show that the sensor system offers the breath monitoring and movement of multiple persons.