Experimental study on human breathing cross section using UWB impulse radar

Human being detection in post-disaster scenarios using UWB radars relies on detection of slight variations in time-of-arrival of the backscattered response due to human breathing motion. In this study we investigate experimentally the human breathing cross-section (BCS) in the UWB frequency band as function of aspect angle for three positions of the body and three combinations of antenna-pair polarization. Due to low SNR conditions commonly experienced in such scenarios, main goal in acquisition and data processing stages is obtaining high quality data for further analysis. The results show that a human lying on the side produces strongest and most varying BCS, followed by back and stomach positions. HH co-polarized antenna pairs result in slightly larger BCS than VV, whereas HV cross-polarization produces very weak BCS values.