The technology offers an ability to take these measurements without requiring a wearable device or sensor. It’s basically the same sort of millimeter-wave spread-spectrum technoloy that is used to scan passengers at airports.
What Panasonic was looking for, is something that will offer people a way to monitor their body in a casual and relaxed environment, said Hiroyuki Sakai, a researcher at Panasonic. The design does not interfere with a patient’s daily routine, but provides automatic monitoring of their health status. The researcher state users don’t need to place sensors on the body, but that under controlled conditions, the accuracy is comparable to electrocardiographs.
Toru Sato, professor of communications and computer engineering at Kyoto University, says the test system was able to detect vital signals within a range of about 1m. Sato explains that the radar system is the same principle used in anti-collision radars for cars, but far more sensitive. “The major difference is that we need to detect motions of less than a millimeter while vehicle radars deal with motions of meters.”
What Panasonic was looking for, is something that will offer people a way to monitor their body in a casual and relaxed environment, said Hiroyuki Sakai, a researcher at Panasonic. The design does not interfere with a patient’s daily routine, but provides automatic monitoring of their health status. The researcher state users don’t need to place sensors on the body, but that under controlled conditions, the accuracy is comparable to electrocardiographs.
Inspired by search and rescue technology
The inspiration for the device came from search and rescue technology, using detection of very small Doppler shift in radar echoes due to motions of human body has long been studied for finding people buried under snow or debris for rescue purposes. The remote sensing system combines millimeter-wave spread-spectrum radar technology and a unique signal analysis algorithm that identify signals from the body.Toru Sato, professor of communications and computer engineering at Kyoto University, says the test system was able to detect vital signals within a range of about 1m. Sato explains that the radar system is the same principle used in anti-collision radars for cars, but far more sensitive. “The major difference is that we need to detect motions of less than a millimeter while vehicle radars deal with motions of meters.”
