System for determining physiological parameters of a subject - Patents.com

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system 1 for determining a physiological parameter, such as cardiac stroke volume, of a subject (7). The measurement device includes a) an RF antenna module 3 with one or more RF antennas 4, 5, and b) a vector network analyzer configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module, receive RF signals from the RF antenna module, and provide a motion signal related to a mechanical movement of a structure within the subject based on the received RF signal. The physiological parameter is determined based on the provided motion signal and a model that provides the physiological parameter as an output when the motion signal is provided as an input.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The invention relates to a system, a method and a computer program for determining a physiological parameter of a subject. The invention further relates to a measuring device and a determining device for determining a physiological parameter of a subject, the measuring device being configured to provide a motion signal and the determining device being configured to determine the physiological parameter on the basis of the provided motion signal. The invention also relates to a training system, a training method and a training computer program for training a model used by the determining device for determining the physiological parameter of the subject. The physiological parameter is preferentially a cardiac-related or a pulmonary-related physiological parameter. [Background technology]

[0002] The articles "Worn radio frequency sensing of respiratory rate, respiratory volume, and heart rate" by P. Sharma et al., npj Digital Medicine 3, vol. 98, pp. 1-10 (2020) and "Microwave apexcardiography" by J. Lin et al., IEEE T-MTT 6, vol. 27, pp. 618-620 (1979) disclose a system for measuring respiratory rate, respiratory volume, and heart rate, which uses a wearable radio frequency (RF) sensing device to determine these physiological parameters. The sensor used is an RF sensor that can be worn over clothing. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0003] [Non-Patent Document 1] P. Sharma et al., "Body-worn radio-frequency sensing of respiratory rate, volume, and heart rate," npj Digital Medicine 3, volume 98, pages 1-10, 2020. [Non-Patent Document 2] J. Lin et al., "Microwave Apex Cardiometry," IEEE T-MTT 6, Vol. 27, pp. 618-620, 1979. [Non-Patent Document 3] W. Bakalski et al., "Lumped and Distributed Lattice LC Baluns," 2002 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, DOI:10.1109 / MWSYM.2002.1011595 [Non-Patent Document 4] Groepenhof et al., Physiological Measurements, vol. 28(1), pp. 1-11, 2007. [Non-Patent Document 5] Dornier et al., European.Radiology, vol. 14(8), pp. 1348-52, 2004. [Non-Patent Document 6] Jonathan Dubin et al., "Comparative Accuracy of Doppler Echocardiography for Clinical Stroke Volume Determination," American Heart Journal, Vol. 120, No. 1, pp. 116-123, 1990. [Non-Patent Document 7] E. Argueta et al., "Cardiac Output by Thermodilution: A 250-Year-Old Concept," Cardiology in Review, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 138-144 (2019) [Non-Patent Document 8] W. Lu et al., "Semi-automated detection of peaks and valleys in free breathing waveforms," ​​Medical Physics, vol. 33(10), pp. 3634-6 (2010). [Non-Patent Document 9] N. Huttinga et al., "Gaussian processes for real-time 3D motion and uncertainty estimation in MR-guided radiotherapy," Medical Image Analysis, Archive:2204.09873 (2022) [Non-Patent Document 10] D. Buikman et al., "rf coils as sensitive motion detectors for magnetic resonance imaging," Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Vol. 3, pp. 281-289 (1988). [Non-Patent Document 11] C. Tan et al., "Time integral of left ventricular outflow tract velocity is superior to ejection fraction and Doppler-derived cardiac output for predicting outcome in a selected population with severe heart failure," Journal of Cardiovascular Ultrosound, Vol. 15(1), p. 18 (2017) [Non-Patent Document 12] Navest et al., Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Vol. 82(6), pp. 2236-2247 (2019) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a system, a method and a computer program allowing to improve the determination of a physiological parameter of a subject.A further object of the present invention is to provide a measuring device and a determination device for determining a physiological parameter of a subject, the determination device being configured to allow an improved determination of the physiological parameter based on a movement signal provided by the measuring device.Furthermore, the present invention relates to a training system, a training method and a training computer program for training models used by the system and the determination device to allow an improved determination of the physiological parameter. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for determining a physiological parameter of a subject, the system comprising: - a measurement device comprising: a) an RF antenna module comprising one or more RF antennas; and b) an RF instrument connected to the RF antenna module and configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module, receive RF signals from the RF antenna module, and provide a motion signal related to a mechanical movement of a structure within a subject based on the received RF signals. - a determination device configured to determine a physiological parameter based on a given movement signal, the determination device comprising: a model providing module configured to provide a model that gives the physiological parameter as an output when the movement signal is given as an input; and a processor configured to determine the physiological parameter based on the provided model and the given movement signal.

[0006] Since the RF instrument and the RF antenna module are configured to provide a motion signal related to a mechanical motion of a structure, such as an organ, in the subject, i.e., the RF instrument and the RF antenna module are configured such that the measurement area, which is the area where the measuring device can sense the mechanical motion, covers said structure, the mechanical motion of the structure in the subject affects the provided motion signal, and further, this directly affected motion signal is used by the determining device for determining the physiological parameter, so that the physiological parameter can be determined with higher sensitivity.

[0007] This is in contrast to the measurements described in the above-mentioned papers by P. Sharma et al. and J. Lin et al., where the measured signals relate only to electrical changes close to the skin surface, i.e. not to mechanical movements of structures within the subject. For example, when the structure is the heart, the RF radiation does not penetrate the heart due to the high RF transmission frequency, limiting the sensitivity. Furthermore, the measurements described in these papers do not allow the determination of many different cardiac parameters. For example, the measurements disclosed in these papers do not allow the quantification of cardiac stroke volume.

[0008] Preferentially, the measuring device is configured to be worn by the subject. However, it is also conceivable that the measuring device is not configured to be worn by the subject. For example, the measuring device may be a handheld device that is held on the front of the subject, such as on the chest, to determine the physiological parameter. The measuring device may also be configured to be placed on a wall, or placed on a rack, stage, etc., in which case the subject may be placed in front of the measuring device to determine the physiological parameter.

[0009] The RF instrument can be configured to directly provide the received RF signal as the motion signal. However, the RF instrument can also be configured to process the received RF signal and provide the processed RF signal as the motion signal. Furthermore, it is preferred that the RF instrument is configured to separate the received RF signal from the RF signal to be transmitted, i.e. from the RF power to be transmitted to the RF antenna module, if necessary. In a preferred embodiment, the RF instrument is a vector network analyzer. Furthermore, in an embodiment, the RF instrument is configured to use a bidirectional coupler or to alternate between a transmitting procedure and a receiving procedure in order to separate the RF signal to be transmitted from the RF signal to be received.

[0010] Preferentially, the processor is configured to determine at least one of a cardiac-related physiological parameter and a pulmonary-related physiological parameter. For example, the processor may be configured to determine at least one of a heart rate and a stroke volume as the cardiac-related physiological parameter. Further, the processor may be configured to determine at least one of a respiratory rate and a tidal volume as the pulmonary-related physiological parameter.

[0011] It is preferred that the measuring device comprises a transmitter configured to transmit the measured signals, in particular the movement signals, to the determining device, in particular the measuring device and the determining device being separate devices connected via a wireless data connection, such as Bluetooth.

[0012] In a preferred embodiment, the model providing module is a storage device, such as a storage device of a mobile device or a personal computer, on which the model is stored and from which the model can be retrieved, and the processor may be a processor of the mobile device or personal computer, respectively. The mobile device may be, for example, a smartphone, a tablet computer or a laptop.

[0013] The model providing module may be a storage device in which the model is stored and from which it can be retrieved, as described above, but it may also be a receiving unit arranged to receive a model from another device, such as another storage device. It is also possible for the model providing module to be arranged to generate a model or adapt a current model by training or calibration, and to provide the created or adapted model to the processor.

[0014] In one embodiment, the RF instrument (in a preferred embodiment a vector network analyzer) is configured to provide a complex signal as the motion signal. In particular, the RF instrument is configured to provide at least one of a) a complex reflection coefficient and b) a complex coupling coefficient as the motion signal. In a preferred embodiment, the processor is configured to identify a first sub-signal of the complex signal having a different phase shift (e.g. 90 degrees) with respect to a second sub-signal of the complex signal and to determine the physiological parameter based on at least one of the identified sub-signals, e.g. based on the first sub-signal. Thus, the processor can be configured to process the motion signal to obtain a processed motion signal, i.e. e. the identified first sub-signal, and to determine the physiological parameter based on this processed motion signal.

[0015] It has been found that the complex signal may comprise contributions from at least two sub-signals having mutually different phase shifts, for example 90 degrees. In particular, one of these sub-signals may be due to cardiac motion and the other due to respiratory motion. Thus, by identifying a first sub-signal and using the identified first sub-signal for determining the cardiac-related physiological parameter, the determination of the cardiac-related physiological parameter may be made less sensitive to respiratory motion, thereby increasing the accuracy of the cardiac-related physiological parameter determination. Preferentially, the different phases are predefined phases, which may be predefined, for example by a calibration procedure.

[0016] In a preferred embodiment, the RF instrument and the RF antenna module are configured to operate within an operating frequency of 30-300 MHz, more preferably in a frequency range of 100-150 MHz. It has been found that when the operating frequency is within this frequency range, the different phase shifts are relatively accurate to 90 degrees, which further improves the quality of separating the cardiac-related sub-signals from other sub-signals. This allows for further accuracy in determining, in particular, cardiac-related physiological parameters based on the cardiac-related sub-signals.

[0017] The processor may be configured to determine that the cardiac related sub-signal, i.e. the processed motion signal used to determine the cardiac related sub-signal, has a maximum absolute or relative intensity within a predefined expected frequency range in which the cardiac frequency is expected. This expected frequency range may be, for example, 0.7 Hz to 1.5 Hz. In particular, the determining device may be configured to perform a phase rotation on the complex motion signal received from the measuring device and processed to generate the processed motion signal, so that the cardiac related sub-signal, i.e. the processed motion signal, coincides with the real axis of a corresponding complex coordinate system. This may be performed by rotating the received complex motion signal in the complex coordinate system until the real part of the rotated complex motion signal reaches a maximum absolute or relative intensity within the predefined expected frequency range in which the cardiac frequency is expected. To determine said intensity of the sub-signal within the predefined expected frequency range, the sub-signal is preferentially transformed into the frequency domain, for example by using a Fourier transform. Thus, in one embodiment, a phase rotation is performed on the complex motion signal until the magnitude of the real part of the rotated complex motion signal has a maximum value within a predefined expected frequency range, and the resulting sub-signal, i.e. the resulting real part of the rotated complex total motion signal, is substantially related only to the heart, especially when the different sub-signals associated with different types of motion are separated by 90 degrees. The processor can then use this resulting sub-signal, i.e. the processed motion signal with reduced or even eliminated respiratory effects, to determine heart-related physiological parameters with high accuracy.

[0018] The absolute magnitude of the side signal in a predefined expected frequency range, e.g. 0.7Hz-1.5Hz, may for example be a maximum value within this frequency range or it may be the output of a function having as input one or more intensity values ​​within the predefined expected frequency range. For example, the absolute magnitude of the side signal in the predefined expected frequency range that is to be maximized may be the average of the intensity values ​​in the predefined expected frequency range.

[0019] This absolute intensity for the secondary signals in the predefined expected frequency range can be used directly to find the cardiac related secondary signals, or this absolute intensity can be related to one or more intensities outside the predefined expected frequency range to form a relative intensity for the predefined expected frequency range. For example, if respiratory motion needs to be suppressed, the absolute intensity of the secondary signals in the predefined expected frequency range can be compared to the intensity of the secondary signals in another predefined unwanted frequency range to be suppressed, such as 0.15Hz-0.25Hz. In this comparison, the unwanted intensity can be determined based on one or more intensities in the unwanted frequency range. For example, the unwanted intensity can be the maximum intensity in the unwanted frequency range, or the average intensity in the unwanted frequency range.

[0020] It is also possible to compare the absolute strength of the secondary signal in a predefined expected frequency range with another unwanted strength, such as a background strength. The background strength is the "background" with respect to the predefined expected frequency range. The background strength can therefore be determined as the average of the secondary signal strengths outside the predefined expected frequency range.

[0021] The comparison to give the relative strength of the expected frequency range can be performed by subtracting from the absolute strength of the side signal in the predetermined expected frequency range a) the side signal strength in a predetermined unwanted frequency range, b) the background strength, or c) a combination of the unwanted strength and the background strength. Also, other comparison measures such as division can be used. Thus, the comparison to give the relative strength of the expected frequency range can be performed by dividing the absolute strength of the side signal in the predetermined expected frequency range by a) the side signal strength in the predetermined unwanted frequency range, b) the background strength, or c) a combination of the unwanted strength and the background strength.

[0022] The processor may be configured to determine the sub-signal, i.e. the processed motion signal, such that the comparison measure yields a maximum value. In particular, the full complex signal, i.e. the initially received motion signal, may be rotated in a complex coordinate system, i.e. the phase rotated, until the comparison measure reaches a maximum value of the real part of the full complex signal, this real part being the processed motion signal that the processor uses to determine the physiological parameter.

[0023] In a preferred embodiment, the processor is configured to apply a blind source separation technique to generate a processed motion signal, and to determine the physiological parameter using the processed motion signal and the provided model.Furthermore, in one embodiment, the model providing module is configured to provide at least one of a linear regression model, a polynomial regression model, and a Gaussian process regression model as the model.

[0024] Thus, in one embodiment, the processor is configured to apply a blind source separation technique, such as Independent Component Analysis (ICA) or Principal Component Analysis (PCA), to the motion signal received from the measurement device to generate a processed motion signal, and to determine the physiological parameter using the processed motion signal (which can also be considered as a sub-signal of the initial motion signal). It has been found that processing the motion signal using Second Order Blind Identification (SOBI) is preferred, since it results in a much more accurate physiological parameter. Furthermore, the processor can be configured to apply frequency filtering to the motion signal and to determine the physiological parameter using the resulting processed motion signal. The frequency filtering can be, for example, band-pass filtering, low-pass filtering, high-pass filtering or Kalman filtering. This further processing of the measured signal can ultimately further improve the accuracy of the determination of the physiological parameter.

[0025] In particular, if the motion signal received from the measuring device is a complex signal, it actually comprises two sub-signals, such as intensity and phase, or real and imaginary parts. A blind source separation technique, such as principal component analysis (PCA), can be applied to these two sub-signals. In particular, a vector can be defined with two vector elements, a first vector element comprising one of intensity and phase, and a second vector element comprising the other of intensity and phase. It is also possible that the first vector element comprises one of real and imaginary parts, and the second vector element comprises the other of real and imaginary parts. A blind source separation technique can be applied to this vector, thereby generating a new vector, the first vector element of the new vector being the first sub-signal and the other vector element of the new vector being the second sub-signal. These two sub-signals are independent, uncorrelated or orthogonal to each other as a result of the blind source separation technique. A frequency analysis can be performed on the two sub-signals to determine which sub-signal should be used to determine which physiological parameter. In particular, the amplitude of each sub-signal in a predefined expected frequency range, which is expected to be indicative of the physiological parameter to be determined, can be compared with the amplitude of the sub-signal in one or more other frequency ranges, in particular in all other frequency ranges. For example, a Fourier transform can be performed to convert each sub-signal into the frequency domain, where the value of each frequency spectrum in the expected frequency range can be compared with the value of each frequency spectrum outside the expected frequency range, in particular in another unwanted frequency range representing an unwanted motion to be suppressed, such as respiratory motion, if a cardiac-related parameter needs to be determined. The value of each frequency spectrum in the expected frequency range can also be compared with the average value of the respective background signal, which is defined as the average of the values ​​over all frequency ranges except the expected frequency range. The comparison can be performed by division, subtraction or another comparison measure. The sub-signal whose value in the expected frequency range is the largest compared with the value of another unwanted frequency range representing an unwanted motion to be suppressed, or compared with the background signal, is selected to be the sub-signal, i.e. the processed motion signal, with which the processor must determine the physiological parameter.If the physiological parameter is a cardiac parameter, the expected frequency range may be, for example, 0.7 Hz to 1.5 Hz and the unwanted frequency range may be, for example, 0.15 Hz to 0.25 Hz. If the physiological parameter is a respiratory related parameter, the expected frequency range may be, for example, 0.15 Hz to 0.25 Hz and the unwanted frequency range may be, for example, 0.7 Hz to 1.5 Hz.

[0026] The processor may also apply at least one of blind source separation and frequency filtering to the motion signals received from the RF instrument to generate processed motion signals used to determine the physiological parameters.

[0027] Preferentially, the model providing module is configured to provide as the model a linear model, which has already been found to be capable of providing a more accurate determination of a physiological parameter, such as stroke volume or heart rate, such that the amount of calculations required for training the model and for its use is relatively small.

[0028] Moreover, preferentially the RF instruments, in particular the vector network analyzer and the RF antenna module, are adapted to operate in the frequency range of 30-1000 MHz, more preferably in the frequency range of 300-800 MHz. In a further preferred embodiment, the RF instruments and the RF antenna module are adapted to operate in the frequency range of 30-300 MHz. When operating frequencies within this frequency range are used, RF radiation applies power throughout the entire body, including structures such as the heart. This frequency range can therefore be used to generate signals related to mechanical movements of structures.

[0029] In one embodiment, the RF instrument and RF antenna are configured to operate at operating frequencies of 64, 128, or 300 MHz, which are equivalent to the Larmor frequencies of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems at 1.5T, 3T, and 7T, respectively. Thus, as will be further described below, when using one of these operating frequencies, the model can be trained very effectively using an MRI system having a main magnetic field strength of 1.5T, 3.0T, or 7.0T, respectively.

[0030] As mentioned above, in one embodiment, the RF instrument and RF antenna module are configured to operate in the frequency range of 30-300 MHz. An operating frequency within this frequency range may be advantageous when a smaller single structure such as a smaller organ, such as the heart, needs to be monitored, i.e., when a motion signal related to the mechanical movement of the heart needs to be provided, since in this case, when the RF antenna module is placed in the chest region of the subject, the RF radiation does not result in power application over the entire body, but only in an area close to the RF antenna module, such as the heart region.

[0031] In one embodiment, the measuring device is configured to measure different motion signals for different frequencies, and the determining device is configured to determine the physiological parameter based on the motion signals measured for the different frequencies. The different motion signals for different frequencies can be acquired with one or more RF antennas. In one embodiment, the different motion signals can be considered as frequency-dependent motion signals. In particular, in one embodiment, the RF instrument is configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module at different frequencies to provide motion signals for the different frequencies, and the determining device is configured to determine the physiological parameter based on the motion signals provided for the different frequencies. Thus, measurements can be performed in which the operating frequency changes over time. In particular, a frequency sweep can be performed. By measuring at multiple frequencies, global and local motion effects can be differentiated, which can improve the accuracy of the determination of the physiological parameter. In one embodiment, the different motion signals measured at different frequencies can be used to measure different physiological parameters, such as heart rate, stroke volume, and tidal volume, at different frequencies. In another embodiment, multiple frequency motion signals can be combined, for example by averaging, or by blind source separation techniques such as ICA, PCA or most preferentially SOBI, in order to determine with greater accuracy a processed motion signal that can be used to determine physiological parameters.

[0032] In one embodiment, the different frequencies cover a range from 30 MHz to 1300 MHz. For example, the different frequencies can be 34 MHz, 67 MHz, 100 MHz, 134 MHz, 167 MHz, 200 MHz, 234 MHz, 267 MHz, 300 MHz, 334 MHz, 367 MHz, 400 MHz, 434 MHz, 467 MHz, 500 MHz, 534 MHz, 567 MHz, 600 MHz, 633 MHz, 667 MHz, 700 MHz, 733 MHz, 767 MHz, 800 MHz, 833 MHz, 867 MHz, 900 MHz, 933 MHz, 967 MHz, 1000 MHz, 1033 MHz, 1067 MHz, 1100 MHz, 1133 MHz, 1167 MHz, 1200 MHz, 1233 MHz, 1267 MHz, and 1300 MHz. Thus, the frequencies at which the motion signals are measured can be equally spaced across the range 30 MHz to 1300 MHz. However, the different frequencies may cover narrower ranges such as 30 MHz to 1000 MHz, 30 MHz to 300 MHz, or 100 MHz to 150 MHz. Also, when the frequency range is narrower than 0 MHz to 1300 MHz, it is preferred that the different operating frequencies at which the RF signals are measured are equally spaced across the frequency range.

[0033] The measuring device may be configured to measure different motion signals for different frequencies, and the determining device may be configured to combine the motion signals measured for the different frequencies and determine the physiological parameter based on the combined motion signal. Thus, the motion signals received from the RF instruments are combined and thus processed to determine a processed motion signal that the processor can use to determine the physiological parameter. The combination of motion signals may be a linear combination. The linear combination may be determined by a blind source separation technique such as PCA or ICA. In particular, the processor may be configured to determine the physiological parameter based on a first principal component, which in this example is the processed motion signal. For example, a model may provide a relationship between the first principal component, i.e. the processed motion signal and the physiological parameter, and the processor may be configured to determine the physiological parameter based on the first principal component and this relationship. The relationship, and thus the model, may be pre-determined by calibration. The relationship may be a linear relationship. In one embodiment, the first principal component may be used to determine a cardiac-related physiological parameter, such as stroke volume. The second principal component, which is another processed motion signal, may be used to determine, for example, a lung-related parameter.

[0034] In one embodiment, the motion signals obtained from the measurement device are complex and are measured at different frequencies simultaneously with an absolute reference measurement of the physiological characteristic during the training phase. In particular, the absolute reference measurement is a measurement of stroke volume using transthoracic echocardiography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Since each received motion signal measured at each frequency is complex, each motion signal is in fact formed by two sub-signals, such as a phase sub-signal and an intensity sub-signal, or a real sub-signal and an imaginary sub-signal. The different sub-signals measured at different frequencies can be combined using blind source separation, such as PCA. Depending on the blind source separation technique used, the number of resulting separated sub-signals can vary between two and the total number of initial sub-signals. The new sub-signals, i.e. the processed motion signals obtained by applying the blind source separation technique, are compared with the absolute reference physiological parameters and among the new sub-signals, the sub-signals that best correlate with the absolute reference physiological parameters are selected. This can be done using comparison means such as root mean square error calculations or correlation calculations, where the new sub-signal with the smallest root mean square error or highest correlation with the absolute reference physiological parameter is selected for use in future physiological parameter determination procedures. Thus, this part of the training phase determines which new sub-signal, e.g., in the case of SOBI, which SOBI component, should be used. In a preferred embodiment, one of the first and second SOBI components, in particular the first SOBI component, is used to determine the cardiac-related or pulmonary-related physiological parameter.

[0035] The model that should give the relationship between the selected new sub-signal, i.e. the processed motion signal, and the physiological parameter can also be determined in a training phase, and can use a linear regression model, a polynomial regression model, or most preferentially a Gaussian process regression model. In particular, the corresponding model includes one or more parameters that are modified so that when this model is used with the selected sub-signal to determine the physiological parameter, this determined physiological parameter corresponds as well as possible to the absolute reference physiological parameter. This training and the other trainings described in this patent application can be performed by specific subjects or by groups. Once this training phase is completed, the determination device can use the training results to determine the physiological parameter in future determinations. In particular, the same kind of combination of the initially received motion signal, the same resulting new sub-signal, i.e. the same processed motion signal, and the same adaptation model is used by the processor to determine the physiological parameter based on future RF measurements.

[0036] It has been found that when using the SOBI components as the processed motion signal and a Gaussian process regression model as the model, particularly accurate physiological parameters can be determined. In particular, one of the first and second SOBI components, particularly the first SOBI component, can be input to the Gaussian regression model to determine a cardiac-related physiological parameter or a pulmonary-related physiological parameter.

[0037] In another embodiment, the sub-signals of the acquired complex motion signal are used directly, i.e., they are not processed using blind source separation techniques for comparison with the absolute reference physiological parameter. For example, the processor can be configured to determine which received sub-signal of the received complex motion signal has the best correlation with the measured absolute reference physiological parameter, and this best-correlated sub-signal can be used by the processor together with the corresponding model to determine the physiological parameter in future measurements. The correlation can be determined, for example, by regression analysis, Bland-Altman analysis, calculation of the root mean square error between each sub-signal and the absolute reference physiological parameter, which is also a signal because it is measured over time, or by using another correlation measure. After this training, the processor can use the same selected sub-signals in the actual measurement to determine the physiological parameter. Also, in this embodiment, when a selected type of sub-signal, i.e. the selected motion signal, is given as input, a corresponding model can be trained to give the physiological parameter as output. In a further embodiment, during the training phase, the sub-signals of the received motion signal can be selected by comparing the absolute magnitude of each sub-signal in a predefined expected frequency range or the relative magnitude of each sub-signal in a predefined expected frequency range, as described above. The sub-signal with the highest absolute or relative intensity within the predefined expected frequency range can be selected, and this selected processed motion signal can be used together with the absolute reference physiological parameter to train the model, and in future measurements, the processor can use it to determine the actual physiological parameter.

[0038] To measure different motion signals for different frequencies, the measurement device, in particular the RF instrument and the RF antenna, can be configured to operate at multiple frequencies in a frequency sweep. The signals obtained sequentially at different frequencies have different penetration depths, resulting in motion signals obtainable with the same sensor, i.e. with the same RF instrument and the same RF antenna. Combining the signals obtained at different frequencies allows the measurement precision and sensitivity to artifacts related to respiratory and bulk motion to be minimized. Thus, for example, cardiac-related physiological parameters can be determined much more accurately.

[0039] The RF antenna module is matched to the characteristic impedance of the RF instrument, which is typically 50Ω. Moreover, the reflection coefficient of the RF antenna module is preferentially lower than −1 dB relative to the operating frequency, and more preferably lower than −3 dB. Furthermore, if the measurement device needs to be used at multiple operating frequencies, it is desirable for the RF antenna module to have a wide bandwidth, which is defined as the frequency span over which the reflection coefficient is lower than −1 dB, and more preferably lower than −3 dB. In a preferred embodiment, the RF antenna module is configured to have multiple resonant frequencies within the span of the bandwidth. A preferred corresponding RF antenna module with multiple resonant frequencies is further described below.

[0040] Preferably, the RF antenna module has a width and a length each less than 20 cm. In particular, the dimensions of the RF antenna module allow it to be placed within an imaginary sphere with a diameter of 20 cm. It is therefore preferred that the RF antenna module is not too large so that it can be relatively easily integrated into a measuring device that can be configured to be worn. In particular, the RF antenna module can be integrated into a holder of the measuring device that holds the RF antenna module. In a preferred embodiment, the RF antenna module has a width and a length each in the range of 5 cm to 20 cm, more preferably in the range of 10 cm to 15 cm. In a preferred embodiment, the RF antenna module is therefore configured so that it can be placed within an imaginary sphere with a diameter of 20 cm or less, but not within an imaginary sphere with a diameter of 5 cm, and in a more preferred embodiment, the RF antenna module is configured so that it can be placed within an imaginary sphere with a diameter of 15 cm or less, but not within an imaginary sphere with a diameter of 10 cm. The RF antenna module with these dimensions is optimized to give a motion signal representative of the motion of the heart.

[0041] Furthermore, it is preferred that the RF antenna module comprises one or more dipole antennas or loop coils as the one or more RF antennas, whereby dipole antennas have the advantage of localized sensitivity and radiating the electric field deep into the tissue, which can further improve the accuracy of the determination of the physiological parameters.

[0042] In one embodiment, the one or more RF antennas include at least one of a dipole antenna and a loop coil with a gap in which a capacitor is placed, and it has been found that the use of an RF antenna with such a gap can further increase the accuracy of determining the physiological parameter.

[0043] Preferentially, the dipole antenna comprises a straight conductive element, such as a conductive line or conductive strip, with a gap in the center. Due to this gap, the conductive element thus comprises two separate conductive sub-elements, named "legs". At the location of the gap, a matching circuit and an excitation source are arranged, which connect the two separate conductive sub-elements. The matching circuit and the excitation source can be known matching circuits and known excitation sources. In one embodiment, the length of the conductive element is half an RF wavelength corresponding to the operating frequency. The length of the conductive element can also be shorter or longer depending on the elements of the matching circuit. Also, known matching circuits can be used to change the length of the conductive element. The matching circuit can comprise an inductor and / or a capacitor that tunes the dipole antenna to the desired operating frequency.

[0044] In one embodiment, the two separate conductive sub-elements or legs have a T-shape at their opposing or outer ends. The T-shape can increase the bandwidth and increase the sensitivity perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the straight conductive elements. The inventors have found that a total antenna length of 180 mm, i.e. the total length of the straight conductive elements, in other words the length from one end of the T to the other end of the T, with a narrower width of each T-shape of 30 mm and a wider width of each T-shape of 50 mm, provides an optimized trade-off between sensitivity to cardiac motion and bandwidth. In a preferred embodiment, the dipole antenna has these geometric dimensions, or at least within 10% of the optimum values ​​given above. It should be noted that the length of the dipole antenna is defined by the longitudinal axis of the straight conductive elements, and the width is defined as the direction perpendicular to this longitudinal axis.

[0045] Furthermore, an additional matching circuit can be used to match the dipole antenna to a cable, such as a coaxial cable, to maximize the transmission efficiency. This cable is preferentially a cable to an RF instrument, a vector network analyzer. This additional matching circuit can be, for example, a lattice balun as disclosed in the paper "Lumped and Distributed Lattice LC Baluns" by W. Bakalski et al., 2002 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest, DOI:10.1109 / MWSYM.2002.1011595, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

[0046] Preferentially, dipole antennas have higher resonant frequencies at frequencies where the length is equal to a positive integer multiple of each wavelength. The corresponding bandwidth, which can be measured as the half-width of the reflection, can be increased by increasing the width of the conductive elements. Thus, to make the dipole antenna more suitable for use over a wide range of operating frequencies, the width is preferentially increased.

[0047] Loop coils have the advantage that they can be very small even for low transmission frequencies, which allows for improved integration of the RF antenna module into the measuring device, in particular into a holder for the measuring device.

[0048] Preferentially, the loop coil comprises a circular, rectangular or octagonal conductive element, such as a wire or conductive strip of corresponding shape, with a gap in which the matching circuit and the excitation source are placed. In this embodiment, the loop coil has a number of gaps in its conductive element, with a respective capacitor being placed in each gap. The RF instrument can be configured to operate the loop coil in a loop mode. The combination of the inductance of the conductive element and the number of capacitors causes the loop coil to resonate at a respective frequency ω=1 / √(LC), where L is the total inductance of the conductive element (which may be circular) and C is the total capacitance of the number of capacitors. The loop coil is operated in the loop mode by using a relatively low operating frequency at which the resonance condition is satisfied. Correspondingly, in the loop mode, the current flows substantially uniformly along the entire length of the conductive element, which is preferentially circular as described above.

[0049] The RF instrument can also be configured to operate the loop coil in a dipole mode. In the dipole mode, the loop coil functions like a dipole antenna. In the dipole mode, the RF instrument uses a very large operating frequency, so that the current on the conductor decreases to zero before reaching the capacitor due to the increase in resistive losses at high frequencies. Correspondingly, in the dipole mode, only the conductive subelements connected to the RF instrument have current, and these conductive subelements through which current flows function like a dipole antenna. By operating the loop coil in both the loop and dipole modes, the loop coil can resonate at multiple frequencies, thereby improving sensitivity over a wide frequency range, which in turn can improve the accuracy of determining physiological parameters.

[0050] In a preferred embodiment, the diameter of the conductive element of the loop coil, e.g., the diameter of the loop coil conductive element, is in the range of 70 mm to 120 mm. The inventors have found that a loop coil with a diameter in this range can provide a motion signal related to the mechanical movement of the heart with greater accuracy. Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment, the loop coil is tuned to a primary resonant frequency of 433 MHz and a secondary resonant frequency of 920 MHz. These frequencies correspond to radio bands reserved for industrial, medical, and scientific (ISM) purposes.

[0051] Preferably, the loop coil is connected to the RF instrument using a coaxial cable, and a matching inductor, or alternatively a capacitor and a grid balun, can be used to match the impedance of the loop coil to the characteristic impedance of the coaxial cable.

[0052] In one embodiment, the RF antenna module comprises at least two RF antennas, the at least two RF antennas being a dipole antenna and a loop coil. In this case, the connection of the RF antenna module to an RF instrument is used such that RF power is transmitted from the RF instrument to one of the dipole antenna and the loop coil, and the RF signal received by the other of the dipole antenna and the loop coil is measured to provide a motion signal related to the mechanical movement of a structure within the subject. In this way, the motion signal is provided based on the RF signal received by the other of the dipole antenna and the loop coil. By using one of the dipole antenna and the loop coil for transmission and the other for reception of the dipole antenna, the amount of intrinsic coupling between transmission and reception can be made very low due to geometric decoupling. The RF signal received using the other of the dipole antenna and the loop coil is affected only by the subject and is not affected by artifacts from the environment.

[0053] In one embodiment, a) the RF antenna module comprises one RF antenna and the measuring device is configured such that the center point of the RF antenna is positioned to the left of the sternum when an adult wears the measuring device, or b) the RF antenna module comprises at least two RF antennas, in particular only two RF antennas, and the measuring device is configured such that the center point of one of the at least two RF antennas is positioned to the left of the sternum and the center point of the other of the at least two RF antennas is positioned to the right of the sternum when an adult wears the measuring device. In a preferred embodiment in which the RF antenna module comprises only a single RF antenna, the RF antenna module is positioned to the left of the sternum with an offset in the range of 2 cm to 4 cm, more preferably 3 cm. This allows the RF antenna to be positioned directly above the heart, which allows very accurate determination of cardiac-related physiological parameters such as heart rate or stroke volume. In a further preferred embodiment, where the RF antenna module comprises at least two RF antennas, in particular only two RF antennas, one of the RF antennas is positioned to the left of the sternum with an offset of 2 cm to 4 cm, more preferably with an offset of 3 cm, and the other of the RF antennas is positioned to the right of the sternum with an offset of 2 cm to 4 cm, more preferably with an offset of 3 cm. When using such a configuration, one of the RF antennas is placed directly above the heart, and the signal generated by using this RF antenna can be used to very accurately determine heart-related physiological parameters. Since the other RF antenna is at a relatively long distance to the heart and is located directly above the lungs, the signal generated by using the other RF antenna can represent the effect of lung movement on the signal generated from the RF antenna located directly above the heart. Therefore, the signal generated from the other RF antenna can be used to compensate the signal generated by using the RF antenna directly above the heart, so that the effect of lung movement can be removed or at least reduced in the signal measured by using the RF antenna located above the heart.Digital signal processing techniques, such as PCA, ICA, or other blind source separation techniques, can be used to perform signal correction and separate cardiac and pulmonary motion from the set of received signals, which may further improve the accuracy of determining cardiac-related physiological parameters.

[0054] Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment in which the RF antenna module comprises only two RF antennas, the RF instrument and the two RF antennas are configured such that the inter-element coupling between the two RF antennas is below a predefined value, which may be, for example, -12 dB. In particular, the distance between the two RF antennas is such that the inter-element coupling between the two RF antennas is below -12 dB. This distance may be, for example, within the range of 4-8 cm, preferentially 6 cm, where the distance refers to the distance between the center positions of the two RF antennas. This may further improve the accuracy of determining the physiological parameter.

[0055] In one embodiment, the RF antenna module includes multiple RF antennas with different transmission phases that define their sensitivity profile, where the sensitivity profile is configured to have a maximum sensitivity at the location of structures that are preferentially organs, and this can further increase the accuracy of determining the physiological parameters.

[0056] In one embodiment, the RF antenna module comprises a number of RF antennas arranged in a belt-like configuration. In particular, the belt-like configuration may be such that the RF antennas are arranged around the torso of the subject. Preferentially, the number of RF antennas in this belt-like configuration is in the range of 3 to 32. This configuration allows to improve the sensitivity of the measurement device to the physiological parameter. In particular, if a number of RF antennas are arranged in a belt-like configuration around the structure, the sensitivity profile of the RF antenna module comprising a number of RF antennas can be adapted to a highly concentrated maximum sensitivity at the location of the structure, thereby further increasing the accuracy of determining the physiological parameter. For example, the phase of the signal transmitted to the RF antenna can be changed so that the sensitivity to the physiological parameter is as high as possible. The optimal transmission phase can be determined by comparing measurements using different transmission phases or by performing an electromagnetic simulation of the entire measurement system. Electromagnetic simulations can be performed with various transmission phases to determine the optimal measurement settings. The RF antenna in the belt-like configuration receives a large number of signals. To determine the physiological parameters from these multiple signals, digital signal processing techniques such as PCA, independent component analysis, or other blind source separation techniques can be used to separate out the various contributions to the signals and treat the measurements of the physiological parameters separately.

[0057] In one embodiment, the RF antennas are arranged in a number of rows. For example, they can be arranged in up to eight rows, and preferably, each row comprises a number of RF antennas in the range of 3 to 32. Thus, in one embodiment, the RF antenna module comprises 256 RF antennas. Preferentially, each row of RF antennas has a limited field of view in the foot-head direction, which can be defined by a respective area in which each RF antenna has a sensitivity of more than 50% of its maximum sensitivity. This field of view can have a size of, for example, 5 cm in the foot-head direction. This allows for localized reception of the RF signal and thus for providing a local movement signal, which can be used by the determination device to determine the spatial distribution of one or more physiological parameters.

[0058] In one embodiment, the local RF signal is provided to the decision device as a local motion signal and processed by a processor of the decision device. In particular, the processor may be configured to combine the received motion signals of the multiple RF antennas to determine a processed motion signal, the model providing unit may be configured to provide a physiological parameter as an output given the processed motion signal as an input, and the processor may be configured to determine the physiological parameter based on this provided model and the processed motion signal. The model may for example be a linear model or, most preferentially, a Gaussian process regression model. The received RF signal, i.e. the received motion signal, may be combined with the processed motion signal by using a blind source separation such as PCA, ICA or, most preferentially, SOBI. For example, SOBI may be performed and the SOBI components may be used as the processed motion signal. The model may be trained in a training phase, in which ground truth measurements of the physiological parameters are compared with the physiological parameters determined by the processor, and the model, in particular the parameters of the model, are modified until the deviation between the ground truth physiological parameters and the physiological parameters determined by the processor using the modified model is minimized. The ground truth measurement may be, for example, an MRI measurement yielding the left ventricular volume if the left ventricular volume is the physiological parameter to be determined.

[0059] In further embodiments, one or more RF antennas can be positioned at predetermined anatomical structures proximate to structures within the subject to which motion signals are to be provided. For example, one or more RF antennas can be positioned proximate the left ventricle and one or more RF antennas can be positioned proximate the right ventricle to provide motion signals related to left or right ventricular motion, which are used to determine left or right ventricular volume, respectively. Additionally, one or more RF antenna modules can be positioned proximate the aorta to provide motion signals related to mechanical motion of the aorta.

[0060] In one embodiment, the RF antenna module comprises a loop coil having a diameter lying in the range of 70 mm to 170 mm, preferentially in the range of 70 mm to 110 mm. Furthermore, in one embodiment, the loop coil comprises a conductive element having a number of gaps in which respective capacitors are located as described above, and the capacitors in the gaps close to the connection to the RF instrument may be located at the sternal midline, in particular at the level of the fourth intercostal space. In particular, the loop coil may be located in a wearable holder, and the wearable holder and the loop coil may be arranged such that, when the subject is wearing the wearable holder, the capacitors close to the connection to the RF instrument are located at the sternal midline, preferentially at the level of the fourth intercostal space.

[0061] The measuring device may include a wearable holder with at least one or more RF antennas of the RF antenna module as described above. Moreover, it is preferred that the one or more RF antennas of the RF antenna module are flexible. The flexibility of the one or more RF antennas allows them to be well integrated into the wearable holder, making it more convenient for the subject to wear the measuring device. The wearable holder may be equipped with visible markers assigned to the anatomical features of the subject and may be configured to be worn such that the markers are located at positions on the subject where the assigned anatomical features are located. In a preferred embodiment, the anatomical feature is the sternum at nipple height. This ensures that the subject wears the measuring device correctly such that the one or more RF antennas are positioned at positions on the subject, allowing accurate determination of physiological parameters.

[0062] In one embodiment, the RF antenna module includes at least a first RF antenna and a second RF antenna, the RF instrument and the RF antenna module are configured to provide a first motion signal of the first RF antenna related to a mechanical motion of a first structure in the subject and a second motion signal of the second RF antenna related to a mechanical motion of a second structure in the subject, and the processor is configured to process the motion signal such that a contribution of the motion of the second structure is removed in the first processed motion signal. The processor is configured to determine a physiological parameter based on the first processed motion signal. In particular, the RF instrument is preferentially a vector network analyzer and is configured to determine a coupling of the first RF antenna and the second RF antenna. The coupling of the first RF antenna and the second RF antenna can be determined by measuring a signal scattered from the first antenna to the second antenna. The RF instrument preferentially has two connection ports, one port being capable of transmitting a signal to the first RF antenna and the other port receiving a signal from the second RF antenna. The combined signal can be used to remove the contribution of the movement of the second structure to the first movement signal from the first movement signal based on the determined combination and to determine a physiological parameter based on the first movement signal, i.e. based on the resulting first processed movement signal.

[0063] In particular, the processor is configured to apply digital signal processing techniques, such as blind source separation techniques, to the first and second motion signals to remove the contribution of the second structure's motion to the first motion signal from the first motion signal and, optionally, to remove the contribution of the first structure's motion to the second motion signal from the second motion signal. For example, PCA, ICA, SOBI, or another blind source separation method may be applied to the first and second motion signals.

[0064] To measure the coupling between the first and second RF antennas, the RF instrument, preferentially a vector network analyzer, can provide a harmonic signal to a first RF antenna, which can be connected to a port of the RF instrument, such as "port 1" of the RF instrument. Additionally, a second RF antenna can also be connected to the RF instrument, for example to another port of the RF instrument, named "port 2". The RF instrument can measure the strength and phase of the power received via the second RF antenna while providing the harmonic signal to the first RF antenna. In a preferred embodiment, a signal received at the second RF antenna while another signal is provided to the first RF antenna is considered to be a coupling between the two RF antennas. In particular, the RF instrument can be configured to measure at the first RF antenna a first RF signal, which can be considered to be a reflection of the first RF antenna and can also be considered to be a first motion signal, and to measure at the second RF antenna a second RF signal, which can be considered to be a coupling. Moreover, preferentially these signals are complex in nature such that four different sub-signals are measured, i.e. for each of the two complex signals, a respective amplitude and intensity signal or a respective imaginary and real signal is provided as a sub-RF signal. These four signals can be combined in a processor to determine a first processed motion signal, for example by using blind source separation techniques such as PCA, ICA or, most preferentially, SOBI.

[0065] In one embodiment, the first RF antenna is placed close to the heart and the second RF antenna is placed away from the heart on the torso such that the amplitude and strength of the first RF antenna signal, i.e. the reflected signal, the first motion signal, is mainly affected by the heart motion and less by the respiratory motion, and the second RF antenna signal, i.e. the strength and phase of the coupling between the two RF antennas, is mainly affected by the respiratory motion and less by the heart motion. Since both the first and second RF signals are complex, there are effectively four signals and a blind source separation technique such as PCA is applied to these four signals. In particular, a vector containing four elements can be defined, each of the four elements corresponding to each of the four signals. For example, each element of the vector can be the intensity or phase of the first or second RF signal, or can be a real or imaginary component of the respective RF signal. A blind source separation technique applied to this four-dimensional vector results in a new four-dimensional vector, where the vector elements, i.e. the new sub-signals, are uncorrelated, orthogonal or independent of each other, depending on exactly which blind source separation technique is used. Since other motions such as cardiac motion, respiratory motion and bulk motion are mostly independent of each other, the vector elements of the new vector can be assigned to different independent types of motion. The vector elements of the new vector, i.e. the corresponding new sub-signals, can be considered as processed motion signals. To determine which processed motion signals are related to which type of motion, for each processed motion signal, the values ​​in a respective predefined expected frequency range (where the respective motion is expected) can be compared with values ​​outside this frequency range. For example, for cardiac motion, the expected frequency range can be 0.7Hz-1.5Hz. The values ​​of each processed motion signal in this frequency range can be compared with the values ​​of each processed motion signal outside this frequency range. The processed motion signal which this comparison gives the maximum deviation between the values ​​in the expected frequency range and the values ​​outside the expected frequency range is considered to be the processed motion signal related to the mechanical motion of the heart. This comparison can be, for example, a division or a subtraction.For example, the average value for the expected frequency range can be compared to the average value outside the expected frequency range, which can be performed by dividing the two average values ​​or by subtracting the two average values ​​from each other.

[0066] Similarly, the second processed motion signal may be determined to be a processed motion signal caused by breathing, i.e. related to the mechanical motion of the lungs, where the predefined expected frequency range may be, for example, 0.15Hz-0.25Hz. In one embodiment, SOBI is used, the first SOBI component being a first processed motion signal related to the mechanical motion of the heart, and the second SOBI component being a second processed motion signal related to the mechanical motion of the lungs. If the RF antenna module comprises multiple RF antennas, e.g. 256 RF antennas, the measurement device may be configured to measure the coupling between the different RF antennas and also the reflection at each single RF antenna as the motion signal. In one embodiment, the measurement device is configured to measure the coupling between all RF antennas, i.e. for each pair of RF antennas, the respective coupling is measured. The measured coupling between the different RF antennas and the measured reflection at each single RF antenna may be used to form a matrix with, for example, 256x256 elements when 256 RF antennas are used. This matrix, and in particular the elements of the matrix, are time dependent. This matrix can be used to combine motion signals measured with different RF antennas as well as to separate the physiological motion components.

[0067] To measure the coupling between two RF antennas, an excitation signal is applied to one of the two RF antennas and an RF signal is measured at the other of the two RF antennas. If the measured RF signal is complex, it has a phase and an intensity. The measured RF signal represents the scattering of the excitation signal applied to one of the two RF antennas to the other of the two RF antennas and is therefore considered to be a coupling. The RF instrument can be configured to perform this coupling measurement for each pair of the multiple RF antennas. This coupling measurement can be performed sequentially or simultaneously, in the latter case multiple excitation signals with different frequencies are used to be able to distinguish the measured RF signals, i.e. to determine which excitation signal each scattered and measured signal is due to. Corresponding frequency demodulation is therefore performed. After determining these couplings, a respective reflected signal can be measured for each RF antenna of the multiple RF antennas and for each combination of each RF antenna with the other RF antenna there is a corresponding coupled signal. In a preferred embodiment, these signals are complex such that for each reflected signal there are two respective sub-signals and for each coupled signal there are also two respective sub-signals. The processor may be configured to apply blind source separation techniques to these motion signals or sub-signals to determine the processed motion signals. For example, SOBI may be applied, where the first SOBI component may be the first processed motion signal and the second principal component may be the second processed motion. The RF instrument may further be configured to determine which processed motion signal corresponds to which type of motion by comparing the value of each motion signal in each predefined expected frequency range, where the respective motion is expected, with the value of each motion signal outside this expected frequency range. In particular, in one embodiment, such a comparison reveals that the first SOBI component is a processed motion signal related to mechanical motion of the heart and the second SOBI component is a processed motion signal related to mechanical motion of the lungs.In another embodiment, the comparison reveals that the first SOBI component is a processed motion signal related to mechanical motion of the lungs and the second SOBI component is a processed motion signal related to mechanical motion of the heart. In a further aspect of the invention, a measuring device is presented, configured for use with a determining device forming a system for determining a physiological parameter, the measuring device including: a) an RF antenna module comprising one or more RF antennas; and b) an RF instrument connected to the RF antenna module and configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module and receive RF signals from the RF antenna module and provide a motion signal related to mechanical motion of a structure within the subject. The measuring device can be configured to be worn by the subject.

[0068] In another aspect of the present invention, a determination device is presented for determining a physiological parameter of a subject based on a motion signal provided by a measuring device, the determination device comprising a model providing module configured to provide a model providing the physiological parameter as an output when the motion signal is provided as an input, and a processor configured to determine the physiological parameter based on the provided model and the provided motion signal.

[0069] In a further aspect of the present invention, a training system for training a model for use in a system for determining a physiological parameter of a subject is presented, the training system comprising: - a training physiological parameter measuring device for measuring a training physiological parameter of a subject; - a model providing module configured to provide an adaptive model to be trained, the model providing as output physiological parameters given a movement signal as an input; - an RF antenna module comprising one or more RF antennas; and an RF instrument coupled to the RF antenna module and configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module and receive RF signals from the RF antenna module and provide a motion signal related to mechanical movement of a structure within the subject based on the received RF signals when the RF antenna module is positioned on the subject; - a training module configured to a) determine physiological parameters of the subject based on the model to be trained and the motion signals provided by the RF instrument and the RF antenna module, and b) modify the model such that the deviation between the determined physiological parameters and the training physiological parameters is reduced.

[0070] Preferentially, the training physiological parameter measuring device is configured to measure the training physiological parameter of the subject using an RF antenna module, which allows training the model and ultimately determining the physiological parameter with higher accuracy, since the same RF antenna module can be used to determine the physiological parameter of the subject based on the model and the given exercise signal.

[0071] In another aspect of the present invention, a method for determining a physiological parameter of a subject is presented, the method comprising: - providing a motion signal related to mechanical movement of a structure within a subject by using an RF instrument and an RF antenna module according to claim 13; - providing, by a model providing module, a model which gives as output physiological parameters given as inputs the movement signals; - determining, by the processor, a physiological parameter based on the provided model and the given movement signal.

[0072] In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a training method for training a model used by a system for determining a physiological parameter of a subject, in particular as defined in any of claims 1 to 12, said training method comprising: - providing, by a model providing module, a model to be trained, said model providing as output physiological parameters given as inputs the movement signals; - measuring a training physiological parameter of the subject by a training physiological parameter measuring device and providing a motion signal related to a mechanical motion of an organ in the subject using an RF antenna module including one or more RF antennas and an RF instrument connected to the RF antenna module and configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module, receive RF signals from the RF antenna module, and provide a motion signal based on the received RF signals, wherein the RF antenna module is positioned on the subject; - determining physiological parameters of the subject based on the model to be trained and on the motion signals provided by the RF instrument and the RF antenna module, and modifying the model by the training module such that the deviation between the determined physiological parameters and the training physiological parameters is reduced.

[0073] In another aspect of the invention a computer program for controlling a measuring device according to claim 13 is presented, the computer program comprising program code means for causing the measuring device to provide movement signals related to mechanical movements of a structure in a subject by using an RF meter and an RF antenna module of the measuring device. The computer program can be configured to be executed on the RF meter or on a controller of the measuring device configured to control different components of the measuring device.

[0074] In a further aspect of the invention a computer program for controlling a determination device for determining a physiological parameter according to claim 14 is presented, the computer program comprising program code means for causing the determination device to determine the physiological parameter on the basis of a provided model giving as output the physiological parameter given as input a movement signal and a movement signal measured by a measuring device according to claim 13. The computer program can be configured to run on a processor of the determination device or on a controller of the determination device configured to control different components of the determination device.

[0075] In another aspect of the invention there is presented a computer program for controlling a training system as claimed in claim 15, the computer program comprising program code means for causing the training system to carry out the steps of the training method when the computer program is executed on a computer controlling the training system. The computer program may be arranged to be executed on one or more components of the training system as claimed in claim 15 or on a controller of the training system arranged to control different components of the training system.

[0076] It is to be understood that the system for determining a physiological parameter of a subject according to claim 1, the measuring device according to claim 13, the determination device according to claim 14, the training system according to claim 15, the method for determining a physiological parameter of a subject according to claim 17, the computer program for controlling a measuring device according to claim 18, the computer program for controlling a determination device for determining a physiological parameter according to claim 19 and the computer program for controlling a training system have similar and / or identical preferred embodiments, in particular as defined in the dependent claims.

[0077] It is to be understood that a preferred embodiment of the invention can also be any combination of the dependent claims or the above embodiments with the respective independent claim.

[0078] These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0079] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates, diagrammatically and exemplarily, one embodiment of a system for determining a physiological parameter of a subject. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic and exemplary diagram of a measurement device of the system shown in FIG. 1, the measurement device being configured to be worn by a subject; [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 shows a schematic and exemplary embodiment of a determination device of the system shown in FIG. 1, the determination device being configured to determine a physiological parameter based on a movement signal provided by the measuring device shown in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 shows a schematic and exemplary training system for training a model used by the system shown in FIG. 3; [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 shows, by way of example only, some signals provided by a measuring device for different operating frequencies; [Figure 6] FIG. 2 shows a schematic and exemplary complex signal provided by a measuring device; [Figure 7] FIG. 2 shows a schematic and exemplary representation of a signal provided after performing a phase rotation; [Figure 8] FIG. 2 shows a schematic and exemplary representation of a signal provided after application of a bandpass filter; [Figure 9] 1 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for determining a physiological parameter of a subject. [Figure 10]1 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a training method for training a model used by a system for determining a physiological parameter of a subject. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 shows, diagrammatically and by way of example, a specific placement of an RF antenna on a subject. [Figure 12] FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic and exemplary embodiment of an RF antenna; [Figure 13] 2A-2C show schematic and exemplary embodiments of an RF antenna; [Figure 14] FIG. 14 shows a schematic and exemplary frequency spectrum of a motion signal measured using the RF antenna shown in FIG. 13. [Figure 15] FIG. 14 is a schematic and exemplary illustration of the RF antenna shown in FIG. 13 placed on the chest of a subject. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0080] 1 shows, in a schematic and exemplary manner, an embodiment of a system for determining a physiological parameter of a subject. In this embodiment, the system 1 is configured to determine the stroke volume of a heart 6 within the body of a subject 7 as a physiological parameter. However, the system can also be configured to determine another physiological parameter related to the heart, such as heart rate, or a physiological parameter related to the lungs, such as respiratory rate.

[0081] The system 1 comprises measuring devices, of which only two RF antennas 4, 5 of an RF antenna module 3 and a vector network analyzer 2 are shown in Fig. 1. The RF antennas 4, 5 are connected to the vector network analyzer 2, and the vector network analyzer 2 and the RF antenna module 3, i.e. the RF antennas 4, 5, are configured to provide motion signals related to the mechanical motion of a heart 6 within the body of a subject 7.

[0082] Fig. 1 merely shows a diagrammatic representation of a system 1 for determining a physiological parameter of a subject 7, where, for example, a vector network analyzer 2 is also placed on the body and not somewhere in the air as shown in Fig. 1. In particular, as shown in Fig. 2, a measuring device 8 includes a wearable holder 10 in which an RF antenna module 3 and a vector network analyzer 2 are integrated, as shown diagrammatically and exemplarily in Fig. 2 by a dashed box.

[0083] The measuring device 8 further comprises a transmitter for transmitting the given movement signal to the determining device 12 shown in Fig. 1. In this embodiment the transmitter 9 is integrated in the vector network analyzer 2, as shown diagrammatically and exemplarily in Fig. 1. The transmission between the measuring device 8 and the determining device 12, in particular the transmission between the vector network analyzer 2 of the measuring device 8 and the determining device 12, is preferentially a wireless transmission, such as a Bluetooth transmission or any other wireless transmission.

[0084] In this embodiment, the determination device 12 is a smartphone or a tablet. The determination device 12 is configured to determine a physiological parameter, i.e., stroke volume in this embodiment, based on the given exercise signal. The determination device 12 is exemplarily and diagrammatically shown in FIG. 3.

[0085] The determination device 12 comprises a receiver 13 for receiving the exercise signal provided by the measuring device 8. Furthermore, the determination device 12 comprises a model providing module 14 configured to provide a model giving as output a physiological parameter, i.e. in this embodiment the stroke volume, given the exercise signal as input. In this embodiment, the model providing module 14 is a storage device in which the correspondingly trained model is stored.

[0086] The determination device 12 further comprises a processor 15 configured to determine a physiological parameter based on the provided model and the received movement signals. The determination device 12 also comprises an output unit 16, such as a display or a connector for connecting a display, for outputting the determined physiological parameter.

[0087] The wearable holder 10 is provided with visible markers 11 assigned to anatomical features of the subject 7 and is configured to be worn such that the markers are located at the positions on the subject 7 where the assigned anatomical features are located. In this embodiment, the anatomical features are the sternum at nipple level and when the wearable holder 10 is correctly worn the markers 11 coincide with the sternum at nipple level.

[0088] The RF antenna module 3 has a width and a length, and the width and length are each less than 20 cm. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the two RF antennas 4, 5 are dipole antennas. However, other types of RF antennas, such as loop coils, can also be used.

[0089] The vector network analyzer 2 and the RF antenna module 3 are configured to operate in a frequency range of 30 to 1000 MHz. In particular, the vector network analyzer 2 and the RF antenna module 3 are configured to operate in a frequency range of 300 to 800 MHz. In a preferred embodiment, the operating frequency of the vector network analyzer 2 and the RF antenna module 3 is 64, 128 or 300 MHz.

[0090] The vector network analyzer 2 is configured to provide a complex signal, such as a complex reflection coefficient signal or a complex coupling coefficient signal, as the motion signal. In this embodiment, the RF antenna module 3 comprises two RF antennas 4, 5, so the vector network analyzer 2 provides two complex signals to the determination device 12.

[0091] The processor 15 of the determination device 12 is configured to identify for each complex signal a first sub-signal of each complex signal having a different phase shift (e.g. 90 degrees) with respect to a second sub-signal of each complex signal and to determine the physiological parameter based on the separated sub-signals. In this embodiment, the physiological parameter is stroke volume, and for this reason it is desirable to have a sub-signal related to the mechanical movement of the heart 6 in the body of the subject 7, and the influence of other movements in the body of the subject 7 should be as small as possible. It is found that in each complex signal, the contribution due to the heart movement has a different phase shift with respect to the contribution due to the respiratory movement. Thus, by identifying for each complex signal a phase shift of the first sub-signal with respect to the second sub-signal, it is possible to significantly reduce or even eliminate the influence of the respiratory movement with respect to the signal that is finally used to determine the stroke volume.

[0092] The processor 15 may further be configured to apply a blind source separation technique, e.g. ICA or SOBI, to separate the sub-signal from the multiple complex signals received by the antennas. Furthermore, the processor 15 may be configured to apply frequency filtering, such as band-pass, low-pass, high-pass or Kalman filtering, to the first sub-signal in order to further reduce contributions to the first sub-signal that are not attributable to the mechanical motion of the heart 6.

[0093] Based on the two complex signals measured with the two RF antennas 4, 5, the two resulting first sub-signals can be combined into a combined signal by blind source separation, e.g. PCA. In another embodiment, the first sub-signal with the least contribution from the second sub-signal is selected based on a spectral analysis. In particular, the processor can be configured to determine which first sub-signal, i.e. which processed motion signal, has the largest deviation between values ​​in an expected frequency range, where the respective motion is expected, and values ​​outside this frequency range. For example, the processor can apply a Fourier transform to perform this comparison. This comparison can be made between the expected frequency range and all values ​​outside the frequency range, or between the expected frequency range and another unwanted frequency range, where contributions of unwanted motions are expected. For example, if it is necessary to determine which first sub-signal, i.e. which processed motion signal, is related to cardiac motion, the expected frequency range can be 0.7 Hz to 1.5 Hz and if the unwanted motion is e.g. respiratory motion, the other unwanted frequency range can be 0.15 Hz to 0.25 Hz. Conversely, if it is necessary to determine which motion signals are due to respiratory motion, the expected frequency range, in this case for example 0.15 Hz to 0.25 Hz, can be compared with the values ​​in the unwanted cardiac frequency range, in this case for example 0.7 Hz to 1.5 Hz, or with all values ​​outside the expected frequency range. Thus, for example, a peak value or an average value in the expected frequency range can be compared with a peak value or an average value in the unwanted frequency range, or with a peak value or an average value of all frequencies outside the expected frequency range. This comparison can be performed by division or subtraction, as also explained above. The first sub-signal which, by comparison, gives the largest deviation with respect to the values ​​in the expected cardiac frequency range, is determined to be the processed motion signal related to the mechanical motion of the heart. Similarly, the first sub-signal which, by comparison, gives the largest deviation with respect to the respiratory frequency range, is considered to be the motion signal related to the mechanical motion of the lungs.In other words, the first sub-signal which, as a result of the comparison, results in a higher value in the expected cardiac frequency range is considered to be the processed cardiac motion signal, and the first sub-signal which, as a result of the comparison, results in a higher value in the expected respiratory frequency range is considered to be the processed respiratory motion signal.

[0094] In this embodiment, the model providing module 14 is configured to provide a linear model as the model. Thus, a linear function relating the processed signal to the stroke volume is provided. Correspondingly, the processor 15 is configured to determine the stroke volume based on the provided linear model and the given processed signal, where the provided model is previously determined by training, also named calibration. An embodiment of a training system for training the model provided by the model providing module 14 is described below as an example.

[0095] 4 shows, diagrammatically and exemplarily, a training system 21 for training the model provided by the model providing module 14. The training system 21 comprises a training physiological parameter measuring device 24 for measuring a training physiological parameter of the subject 7, in this embodiment the stroke volume.

[0096] The training physiological parameter measuring device 24 comprises an MR signal generating device 20 that uses the RF antenna module 3 of the measuring device 8 to determine the stroke volume. The training physiological parameter measuring device 24 further comprises a controller 22 for controlling the MR signal generating device 20 and a training physiological parameter determining module 23 for determining the training physiological parameter based on the generated MR signal. In this embodiment, the training physiological parameter determining module 23 is configured to determine the stroke volume based on the MR signal generated by the MR signal generating device 20. To determine the stroke volume, the MR signal generating device 20, the controller 22 and the training physiological parameter determining module 23 can be configured to reconstruct an MR image based on the MR signal and determine the stroke volume based on the reconstructed MR image. In one embodiment, to determine stroke volume, the MR signal generating device 20, the controller 22 and the training physiological parameter determination module 23 are configured to operate according to known techniques such as those disclosed in Groepenhof et al., Physiological Measurements, Vol. 28(1), pp. 1-11, 2007, or Dornier et al., European Radiology, Vol. 14(8), pp. 1348-52, 2004, which are hereby incorporated by reference. The MR signal generating device 20 can be a standard MR system device.

[0097] In another embodiment, another training physiological parameter measuring device can be used. For example, the training physiological parameter measuring device can be a Doppler echocardiography device, such as the echocardiography device disclosed in the article "Comparative Accuracy of Doppler Echocardiography for Clinical Stroke Volume Determination" by Jonathan Dubin et al., American Heart Journal, Vol. 120, No. 1, pp. 116-123 (1990), which is hereby incorporated by reference. In this case, stroke volume is considered as the training physiological parameter. The training physiological parameter measuring device can also be a Fick device, a dye dilution device, or a thermodilution device, as described in the article "Cardiac Output by Thermodilution: A 250 Year Old Concept" by E. Argueta et al., Cardiology in Review, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 138-144 (2019), which is hereby incorporated by reference. In this example, cardiac output is used as the training physiological parameter.

[0098] The training system 21 further comprises a model providing module 26 configured to provide an adaptive model to be trained, which model gives as output a physiological parameter given a motion signal as input. In this embodiment, the model is a linear model of the type SV=ax+b, where x is for example the amplitude of the processed signal, the amplitude of the derivative of the processed signal, the area under the curve of the processed signal, the root mean square value derived from the processed signal or another quantity. SV is the stroke volume, preferentially defined as the amount of blood pumped per beat from the left ventricle, and a, b are adaptive parameters adapted during the training process. For example, the processed signal is the signal in which the first sub-signal is most strongly present in the frequency domain, i.e. has the largest amplitude, in other words the processed cardiac motion signal described above in one example.

[0099] To determine the parameter "area under the curve of the motion signal", the processor can be configured to detect peaks in the processed motion signal to identify individual periods of the oscillating processed motion signal. To detect the peaks, known peak detection algorithms can be used, such as the algorithm disclosed in the article "Semi-Automatic Method for Detection of Peaks and Valleys in Free Breathing Waveforms" by W. Lu et al., Medical Physics, Vol. 33(10), pp. 3634-6 (2010), which is hereby incorporated by reference. The processor can be further configured to integrate the total amplitude over time for each interval between the peaks, thereby determining the area under the curve. In this manner, each portion of the processed motion signal between two adjacent peaks is considered a "curve", and the integral obtained by integrating the total amplitude over time between two adjacent peaks is considered the area under each curve. The total amplitude is defined as the difference between the maximum and minimum values ​​of each curve.

[0100] In another embodiment, the model providing module can be configured to provide another model, such as a Gaussian process regression model, such as that disclosed in N. Huttinga et al., “Gaussian Processes and Uncertainty Estimation for Real-Time 3D Motion in MR-Guided Radiation Therapy,” Medical Image Analysis, Archive:2204.09873 (2022). Again, the model is used to map the processed signal to a physiological parameter, such as stroke volume or another physiological parameter, such as ventricular rate.

[0101] To train each model, such as a Gaussian process regression model, in the training or calibration stage, the reference physiological parameters, i.e., absolute standards, are compared with the physiological parameters determined using the model to be trained. If the model is a Gaussian process regression model, the distribution of the function related to the mean and covariance matrix is ​​modified until the physiological parameters obtained using the modified Gaussian process regression model match the reference physiological parameters as well as possible. For further details on the modification of Gaussian process regression models, please refer to the above-mentioned paper by N. Huttinga et al.

[0102] Furthermore, the training system 21 comprises a measuring device 8 configured to be worn by the subject 7, and for clarity in Fig. 4 only the RF antenna module 3 of the measuring device 8 is shown. As mentioned above, the training physiological parameter measuring device 24 and the measuring device 8 use the same RF antenna module 3.

[0103] The training system 21 further comprises a training module 25 configured to i) determine physiological parameters of the subject 7 based on a) the trained model and b) the motion signals provided by the measuring device 8 using the RF antenna module 3, and ii) modify the model such that the deviation between this determined physiological parameter and a training physiological parameter determined by the training physiological parameter measuring device 24 using the same RF antenna module 3 is reduced, in particular minimized. Preferentially, the training module 25 is configured to use the same signal processing as that applied by the processor 15 before the processor 15 uses the above-mentioned model for determining the physiological parameter during the actual determination, i.e. after the training phase is completed. In this embodiment, the training model is configured to determine the stroke volume of the subject 7 based on the trained model, preferably a linear model, and the processed signals determined as described above, and to modify the model such that the deviation between this determined stroke volume and a stroke volume determined using the MR signal generating device 20, the controller 22 and the determining device 23 is reduced, in particular minimized.

[0104] The trained model is then used by the above-mentioned system 1 to determine physiological parameters such as the subject's stroke volume. The system can perform dynamic determination or measurement of physiological parameters, in particular cardiac output, using one or more RF antennas integrated into a worn measuring device, in particular a wearable holder. The system 1 can be used to monitor the pumping function of the heart in heart failure patients at home.

[0105] In general, RF antennas transmit RF electromagnetic radiation into the surrounding environment and receive electromagnetic radiation from the surrounding environment. RF antennas have a measurable complex impedance that quantifies the relationship between the complex current and the complex voltage at the feed port of each RF antenna. This antenna impedance can be derived from RF reflection measurements using a vector network analyzer. When the surrounding environment of each RF antenna changes, the antenna impedance changes in phase and magnitude. This occurs when the RF antenna is positioned on the body and the heart or lungs move. This effect can be used to measure physiological motion within the body with RF antennas. It should be noted that the RF operating frequency of the system determines the detection range of physiological motion. For example, when operating in a frequency range up to 300 MHz, RF energy is absorbed by the whole body and global motion is measured. When operating in the 300-800 MHz range, organ motion is measured, whereas higher frequencies can be used to measure local motion, e.g., only a few centimeters below the skin, but when measuring cardiac stroke volume using measuring device 8, RF in the 300-800 MHz range is used rather than RF in the GHz range.

[0106] In MRI, an RF antenna is used to excite the nuclear spins and detect the signals that the magnetized spins emit and return. The MRI antenna is also sensitive to physiological motion and can therefore be used to detect and correct physiological motion in MRI. This is described, for example, in the article "rf coils as sensitive motion detectors for magnetic resonance imaging" by D. Buikman et al., Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Vol. 3, pp. 281-289 (1988), which is hereby incorporated by reference. By operating at the same frequency as the MRI antenna, the same RF antenna can be used during the training described above to determine stroke volume, for example, using MRI and measuring the signal using the measurement determination device 8, thereby making it possible to use MRI as a unique calibration tool. Quantitative parameters such as cardiac stroke volume can be measured simultaneously using MRI and the measurement device 8. After this training or calibration, the physiological parameters of interest, such as stroke volume, can be measured using only the measurement device 8, which measurements can also be performed at home.

[0107] The operating frequency of each RF antenna determines the size of the area where the RF energy is absorbed. Depending on the wavelength of the RF radiation in the tissue, power is applied to the whole body or to a part of the body. At operating frequencies in the range of 30-300 MHz, the RF radiation applies power over the whole body. At higher frequencies, such as 300-1000 MHz, power is applied only to a part of the body, such as the head. To monitor the whole cardiopulmonary system, it may be advantageous to operate in the whole body resonance region, such as 30-300 MHz, or in a frequency range where only the rib cage resonates. To monitor smaller organs, such as the heart, higher operating frequencies, such as 300-800 MHz, are desirable. To monitor localized motions of small structures, even higher operating frequencies, such as 800-1200 MHz, are of interest. In general, higher frequencies can be used to identify localized motions of small structures, whereas lower frequencies can be used to identify motions of larger structures, such as whole organs. The operating frequency used therefore depends on which structure motion needs to be used to determine the respective physiological parameters. In the above mentioned embodiments where the stroke volume needs to be determined, the operating frequency is preferentially equal to the Larmor frequency of widely available MRI systems, i.e. 64 MHz for 1.5T systems, 128 MHz for 3T systems and 300 MHz for 7T systems, which makes it possible to use the same RF antenna for the MRI and for the measurements performed by the measuring device 8.

[0108] In one embodiment, an RF frequency sweep is performed, where the operating frequency of the measurement device is changed over time. For example, by quickly switching between measurements at 64 MHz and 600 MHz, information about whole body motion and organ motion can be obtained in one measurement. When doing this, it is necessary to ensure that the sample rate at each frequency remains higher than twice the respective frequency in order to meet the Nyquist criterion.

[0109] In one embodiment, the different frequencies cover a range from 30 MHz to 1300 MHz. For example, the different frequencies can be 34 MHz, 67 MHz, 100 MHz, 134 MHz, 167 MHz, 200 MHz, 234 MHz, 267 MHz, 300 MHz, 334 MHz, 367 MHz, 400 MHz, 434 MHz, 467 MHz, 500 MHz, 534 MHz, 567 MHz, 600 MHz, 633 MHz, 667 MHz, 700 MHz, 733 MHz, 767 MHz, 800 MHz, 833 MHz, 867 MHz, 900 MHz, 933 MHz, 967 MHz, 1000 MHz, 1033 MHz, 1067 MHz, 1100 MHz, 1133 MHz, 1167 MHz, 1200 MHz, 1233 MHz, 1267 MHz, and 1300 MHz. Thus, the frequencies at which the motion signals are measured can be equally spaced across a range from 30 MHz to 1300 MHz. Corresponding signals are shown in Fig. 5, diagrammatically and by way of example. However, the different frequencies may cover a narrower range, such as from 30 MHz to 1000 MHz. Also, when the frequency range is narrower than 0 MHz to 1300 MHz, the different operating frequencies at which the motion signals are measured are equally spaced across the frequency range.

[0110] RF waves of different frequencies transmitted into the body have different penetration depths, different spatial sensitivity profiles, and different spatial phase distributions. Thus, the movement of a structure or part of a structure is encoded differently in different frequency components. Thus, signals acquired at different frequencies contain independent information about physiological motion.

[0111] In one embodiment, the RF antenna may be a loop antenna commonly used in MRI, where it functions as a transmitting and / or receiving antenna, allowing simultaneous MRI and measurement by a measurement device.

[0112] In particular for measurements of the cardiopulmonary system, the processor is configured to achieve a separation of the cardiac and respiratory signals, i.e. into a first cardiac-related sub-signal and a second pulmonary-related sub-signal. In particular, when the measurement device is used to perform complex reflection measurements, the resulting cardiac and respiratory signals are periodic and have a clear phase difference, for example a phase difference of 90 degrees. In a preferred embodiment, the processor is configured to perform a phase rotation such that the cardiac signal, i.e. the first sub-signal, appears on the real axis and the respiratory signal, i.e. the second sub-signal, appears approximately on the imaginary axis. More generally, to achieve this, the processor can be configured to perform a transformation, in particular a 2×2 matrix transformation, on the complex signals measured by the measurement device 8.

[0113] Fig. 6 shows, diagrammatically and by way of example, a complex signal Z measured over time, in which curve 30 is the imaginary part of signal Z and curve 31 is the real part of signal Z. Fig. 7 shows signal Z after a phase rotation has been performed as described above, i.e. representing the first sub-signal along the real axis.

[0114] The processor may further be configured to exploit the difference in spectral characteristics to remove residual contributions of non-target motion. Thus, the processor may be configured to perform filtering in the frequency domain. For example, band pass, low pass, high pass, or Kalman filtering may be used. In one embodiment, a 0.75-10 Hz band pass filter is used to remove residual components of the respiratory signal. This is shown in FIG. 8. Thus, in FIG. 8, curve 33 is obtained as a result of filtering curve 32 shown in FIG. 7 by using a 0.75-10 Hz band pass filter.

[0115] The model can be used to predict stroke volume (SV, mL) from the measurements shown in FIG. 8. For example, if the amplitude of the signal in FIG. 8, the amplitude of the derivative of the signal, or any other quantity derived from the signal, is given as x, the stroke volume can be calibrated through a linear relationship such as SV=a*x+b, where a and b are determined in a calibration phase. In the calibration phase, the stroke volume is measured with a reference instrument such as MRI or ultrasound. This can be done under physiological stress to increase the stroke volume being measured. At the same time, the parameter x is derived from the signal measured using an RF antenna and a vector network analyzer. If SV and x are available for several different values ​​of SV, the parameters a and b can be determined.

[0116] The above-described system 1 can be used, for example, to monitor the pumping function of the heart of a patient with heart failure at home. It can also be used to measure cardiac rhythm and arrhythmia or to quantify pulmonary ventilation or edema, in particular to (in situ) quantify pulmonary ventilation or edema at home. When measuring the pumping function of the heart, the stroke volume can be predicted based on a model of the effect of the stroke volume on the measurement, for example a linear model SV=a*x+b. The same can be done for the tidal volume, in which case the tidal volume (TV in mL) can be determined as TV=c*y+d, where y is the amplitude of the respiratory signal and c and d are model parameters derived during calibration measurements with a reference instrument such as spirometry. TV and y can be measured during physiological stress, which results in an increase in TV over time. Based on this measurement, the parameters c and d can be determined. Parameters such as heart rate or respiratory rate can be derived from a frequency domain analysis of the combined signal.

[0117] In another embodiment, the model providing module is configured to provide another model that provides a relationship between the motion signal and the physiological parameter. For example, the model that provides a relationship between the stroke volume SV and the amplitude of the RF signal, or the model that provides a relationship between the tidal volume TV related to breathing and the amplitude y of the RF signal, can be a Gaussian process regression model, such as the Gaussian process regression model described in the aforementioned paper by Huttinga et al. The parameters of the Gaussian process regression model can be obtained in a training phase, and the Gaussian process regression model is adapted to output a known given training physiological parameter, i.e., in this example, a known given SV or a known given TV, and, if necessary, a prediction uncertainty, when given the amplitude of the respective RF signal as input.

[0118] It is also possible to track catheters during cardiac catheterization procedures and to monitor cardiac and / or pulmonary related physiological parameters, for example during sports.

[0119] In a further embodiment, the model providing module is configured to provide a model that, given a motion signal, i.e. in particular an RF signal, as input, gives an echocardiographic parameter as output. The model can be, for example, a Gaussian process regression model. The echocardiographic parameter is, for example, the left ventricular outflow velocity. However, it can also be another echocardiographic parameter. Echocardiographic data of the left ventricular outflow velocity is, for example, described in the article by C. Tan et al., "Time integral of left ventricular outflow tract velocity is superior to ejection fraction and Doppler-derived cardiac output for predicting outcome in a selected severe heart failure population," Journal of Cardiovascular Ultrosound, Vol. 15(1), p. 18 (2017), which is hereby incorporated by reference. The model can also be trained in a training phase, where, given an RF signal as input, it is trained to output a known given echocardiographic parameter, such as a known given left ventricular outflow velocity. As input to the model, a motion signal, for example a motion signal that is the time derivative of the RF signal, is given together with an echocardiographic parameter obtained simultaneously as a reference. When using a Gaussian process regression model, the model computes during training a distribution of functions that explain the training data as well as possible, and the distribution of functions can be characterized by mean and covariance parameters that are determined during training.

[0120] An RF antenna can emit and detect electromagnetic radiation, and the RF impedance it measures changes based on the antenna's surrounding environment. When an RF antenna is placed on the body, the RF impedance will change as the dielectric properties of the body change. The dielectric properties of the body change, for example, during mechanical movement of the heart or lungs, and also when an external structure, such as a catheter, moves through the body. This allows for the determination of, for example, cardiac-related and / or pulmonary-related physiological parameters based on the movement of a subject's structure, such as an organ, or the movement of another structure, such as a catheter.

[0121] The RF antenna of the RF antenna module is preferentially flexible and lightweight, i.e. preferentially has a weight of less than 30 g. In an embodiment, the RF antenna is integrated into the clothing or even sewn into the clothing. To measure the RF backscatter with these RF antennas, a vector network analyzer is connected to the RF antenna. The vector network analyzer is preferentially a small mobile device that can also be held in the hand. The vector network analyzer is also preferentially integrated into the clothing. In particular, the above-mentioned wearable holder 10 comprises not only the RF antenna of the RF antenna module but also the vector network analyzer 2. However, in an embodiment, it is also possible that the holder 10 only comprises the RF antenna and the vector network analyzer is held on the body by another means, such as a second holder.

[0122] As mentioned above, a model can be trained to correlate RF measurements performed by the measuring device 8 with parameters obtained from MRI, in the embodiment described above the physiological parameter is stroke volume. To generate this model, a calibration step is performed in which MR imaging and RF measurements are performed simultaneously. Since the same RF antenna or antennas are used for MRI and RF measurements, the calibration can be integrated into the MRI process quite easily.

[0123] Although correlation with the output of MRI measurements has been described above, training or calibration can be performed using other types of measurements, i.e. other calibration measurements, so that other measurements, such as computed tomography (CT) or ultrasound measurements, i.e. physiological parameters derived from these other measurements, can be correlated with RF measurements performed by a measurement device that ultimately uses the correspondingly trained or calibrated model.

[0124] In general, the model makes it possible to provide a relationship between a) RF measurements performed with a measuring device, in particular motion signals generated with the RF measurements, and b) one or more physiological parameters obtained from a relatively complex imaging modality, such as MRI or CT, which relationship can be used together with the RF measurements performed by the measuring device to determine physiological parameters that would normally require a relatively complex imaging modality.

[0125] In the following, one embodiment of a method for determining a physiological parameter of a subject will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

[0126] In step 101, a motion signal related to the mechanical motion of an organ such as the heart in a subject is provided by using a vector network analyzer and an RF antenna module of the measurement device 8. In step 102, a model is provided, which is trained to provide a physiological parameter as output when the motion signal is provided as input. The model is provided by a model providing module 14. In step 103, the physiological parameter is determined by the processor 15 based on the provided model and the provided motion signal.

[0127] In the following, an embodiment of a training method for training the model provided by the model providing module 14 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0128] In step 201, the trained physiological parameters of the subject are measured by the trained physiological parameter measuring device 24. For example, by using MRI, the stroke volume of the heart is determined as the trained physiological parameter. At the same time, by using the measuring device 8, a motion signal related to the mechanical movement of the organs in the subject is provided. In particular, a complex RF signal related to the mechanical movement of the heart is measured. In step 102, a trained model is provided by the model providing module, which provides a physiological parameter as an output when a motion signal is provided as an input. In step 203, the physiological parameters of the subject are determined based on the trained model and the motion signal provided by the measuring device, and the model is modified so that the deviation between the determined physiological parameter and the trained physiological parameter is reduced, this step being performed by the training module 25. For example, the model can be adapted so that the deviation between the stroke volume measured by the training physiological parameter measuring device 24 and the stroke volume determined by using the signal measured by the measuring device 8 and the trained model is reduced, in particular minimized.

[0129] In the above embodiment, the RF antenna module has two RF antennas, but it can also have only a single RF antenna, or more than two RF antennas.

[0130] For example, in one embodiment, the RF antenna module includes one RF antenna, and the measurement device is configured such that the center point of the RF antenna is positioned to the left of the sternum when the measurement device is worn by an adult. The single RF antenna may be positioned to the left of the sternum within a range of 2 cm to 4 cm, and more preferably 3 cm, so that the measurement device can accurately measure signals related to heart movement.

[0131] In another embodiment, when the RF antenna module comprises two RF antennas, the two RF antennas can be arranged to be positioned near the heart, but at the same time relatively far from each other to make the coupling between the elements relatively small. Such a configuration is shown in FIG. 1, which is schematic and exemplary. Thus, the two RF antennas can be positioned above the edge of the heart or above the edge regions of the heart, which can be the left / right edge regions or the upper / lower edge regions. Correspondingly, the distance between the two RF antennas is similar to the distance between these edge regions, and the dimensions of the heart, and thus the distance between the edge regions, can be determined in advance using imaging modalities such as MRI or CT, or the standard dimensions of the heart of an adult or child can be used to determine the placement of the two RF antennas depending on the age of the subject.

[0132] In a further embodiment, the RF antenna module 303 also comprises two RF antennas 304, 305, and the measuring device is configured such that the centre point of one of the two RF antennas 305 is positioned to the left of the sternum and the centre point of the other of the two RF antennas 304 is positioned to the right of the sternum when the measuring device is worn by an adult. This is shown diagrammatically and by way of example in Fig. 11. In particular, one of the RF antennas is positioned to the left of the sternum with an offset in the range of 2 cm to 4 cm, more preferably with an offset of 3 cm, and the other RF antenna is positioned to the right of the sternum with an offset in the range of 2 cm to 4 cm, more preferably with an offset of 3 cm.

[0133] The holder can be anything that holds the RF antenna module on the subject's body, it can be anything that is worn, such as a shirt, a band, etc., and for this reason in particular, the RF antenna(s) are preferentially flexible.

[0134] Vector network analyzers are portable and are used to measure backscatter, i.e. motion signals related to the mechanical movement of organs such as the heart. The measured signals are preferentially complex, i.e. have a phase and an amplitude, and the vector network analyzer wirelessly transmits data representative of the measured signals to a decision device such as a personal computer or a mobile device, the wireless data connection can be, for example, Bluetooth or another wireless data connection.

[0135] The system for determining physiological parameters of a subject can be configured to remotely monitor cardiac function. For example, cardiac failure can be directly monitored. Cardiac failure is a failure of the pumping function of the heart, for example, the heart cannot pump enough blood to the surrounding tissues, resulting in symptoms such as pulmonary edema, rapid weight gain, fatigue, and potentially fatal damage to the heart and other tissues. After initial treatment in a hospital, patients with cardiac failure are very likely to be readmitted if symptoms of cardiac failure recur. More than 50% of all cardiac failure patients are readmitted six months after initial treatment. Cardiac failure is the leading cause of hospitalization in adults over 65 years of age in the United States. Recurrence of cardiac failure is noticed when the patient develops symptoms, but it is already too late, and the cardiac function has deteriorated further by that time. Using the above-described system for determining physiological parameters of a subject, cardiac failure can be assessed before symptoms appear, and the patient's medication prescription or lifestyle can be adapted to prevent re-admission. Known systems do not allow for a sufficient measurement of cardiac pumping function remotely and with sufficient accuracy. For example, electrocardiography (ECG), a common method of telemetry of cardiac rhythm, measures only neurological impulses and not the heart's actual mechanical response to these impulses. ECG only measures cardiac rhythm, not the pumping function of the heart. The above-described systems for determining physiological parameters of a subject are sensitive to changes in tissue deformation and blood volume and can therefore be used to sense changes in cardiac pumping function, unlike ECG, which is not directly sensitive to these.

[0136] The system may also be configured to indirectly monitor heart failure through detection of pulmonary edema. Patients with heart failure often suffer from pulmonary edema as a result of heart failure. When a patient presents with pulmonary edema, the heart and lungs have already suffered significant damage. The system may be configured such that the provided motion signal relates to mechanical lung motion in a subject, where the signal is highly sensitive to respiratory motion. As pulmonary edema progresses, lung motion changes, and thus progression of pulmonary edema may be detected by monitoring lung motion, thereby indirectly detecting heart failure. In this example, the determined physiological parameter may be a characteristic of lung motion, such as a frequency or amplitude of lung motion.

[0137] When the system is configured to provide a motion signal related to the mechanical motion of the heart in a subject and to use the signal to determine a cardiac-related physiological parameter, such as stroke volume or heart rate, the cardiac-related physiological parameter can be used to monitor arrhythmias in a cardiovascular patient. Such monitoring is typically performed using ECG measurements. However, ECG measurements use electrodes attached to the skin, which are uncomfortable for the patient. The above-described system for determining a cardiac-related physiological parameter of a subject does not require electrodes attached to the skin, thereby improving patient comfort.

[0138] The system can also be configured for remote monitoring of pulmonary ventilation. In particular, the measurement device can be configured to provide a motion signal related to the mechanical movement of the lungs in the subject, and the model can be trained such that, given the motion signal, a lung-related physiological parameter, measured for example by spirometry or MRI, is output. The processor of the determination device can then determine the lung-related physiological parameter based on the provided motion signal and the trained model. In this case, a spirometry system or an MRI system can be used to train the model.

[0139] The system can also be used to track catheters during implantation. During cardiac catheterization, typically long thin tubes are inserted into an artery or vein and threaded to the heart where they are used to treat or diagnose certain cardiac diseases. Because these catheters contain conductive materials, RF measurements are highly sensitive to the position and movement of these wires. The resulting motion signals are related to the mechanical movement of the catheter and can be used to determine physiological parameters such as stroke volume.

[0140] The system may also be configured to measure cardiac-related physiological parameters, such as heart rate, or pulmonary-related physiological parameters, such as respiratory rate during exercise. This is known to be done with ECG, which requires contact with the skin using electrodes. In contrast, the above system is capable of measuring cardiac-related or pulmonary-related physiological parameters without the need for skin contact.

[0141] In a preferred embodiment where the RF antenna module comprises only two RF antennas, the vector network analyzer and the two RF antennas can be configured such that the inter-element coupling between the two RF antennas is below a predefined value, which may be, for example, -12 dB. In particular, the distance between the two RF antennas is such that the inter-element coupling between the two RF antennas is below -12 dB. This distance can be, for example, in the range of 4-8 cm, preferentially 6 cm, where the distance refers to the distance between the center positions of the two RF antennas. The inter-element coupling can be measured by using the two antennas and an RF instrument (preferentially a vector network analyzer) to quantify the amplitude and phase of the signal reflected into antenna 2 when antenna 1 transmits.

[0142] In one embodiment, the RF antenna module includes at least a first RF antenna and a second RF antenna, the vector network analyzer and the RF antenna module are configured to measure a first motion signal of the first RF antenna associated with mechanical motion of a first organ in the subject and a second motion signal of the second RF antenna associated with mechanical motion of a second organ in the subject, and the processor is configured to determine a coupling between the first RF antenna and the second RF antenna, and based on the determined coupling, remove the contribution of the second organ's motion to the first motion signal from the first motion signal, and determine a physiological parameter based on the first motion signal. For example, antenna 1 can be positioned near the organ of interest such that the reflection of antenna 1 is mainly affected by the motion of this organ. Antenna 2 can be positioned further away from the organ of interest and closer to another organ that may introduce distortions to the signal of antenna 1, for example, if the heart is of interest, antenna 2 can be positioned closer to the lungs. The coupling between antenna 1 and antenna 2 will be significantly affected by the organ motion introducing distortions, and the combined signal from antennas 1 and 2 can be used to remove distortions from the signal of interest measured at antenna 1. Techniques such as blind source separation, such as SOBI, can be used to remove these artifacts.

[0143] Furthermore, in one embodiment, the RF antenna module includes multiple RF antennas with different transmission phases that define its sensitivity profile, the RF antenna module being configured such that the sensitivity profile has a maximum sensitivity at the location of the organ. For example, the RF antenna module may comprise multiple RF antennas arranged in a belt-like configuration. In the belt-like configuration, the RF antennas may be arranged around the torso of the subject. Preferentially, the number of RF antennas in this belt-like configuration is in the range of 3 to 32.

[0144] In the above embodiment, the model is mainly a linear model, but it can be another model. In general, the model can be any relationship between a) a physiological parameter, such as stroke volume or ventilation parameters, and b) a motion signal provided by a measurement device. Such a relationship can be determined by calibration / training, but also by electromagnetic simulation. For different distributions and dimensions of human components, such as organs, bones, skin, etc., respective electromagnetic simulations can be performed and thus respective relationships, i.e. models, can be determined. Based on the specific distribution and specific dimensions, such as organs, bones, skin, etc. of each subject, which are known based on images of each subject, such as MRI images, CT images, ultrasound images, etc., a suitable model can be selected and used to determine the physiological parameters based on the motion signal. To perform the electromagnetic simulation, a finite difference time domain simulation can be used. This can be done using a commercially available electromagnetic solver, such as that shown in the paper by Navest et al., Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Vol. 82(6), pp. 2236-2247 (2019), which is hereby incorporated by reference.

[0145] In one embodiment, an artificial intelligence (AI) can be trained using the relationships determined by the electromagnetic simulation, and thus the model, along with body parameters describing the distribution and dimensions of each of the human components, such as organs, bones, skin, etc. The body parameters can be, for example, torso dimensions, such as waist circumference, and the AI ​​can be trained to output a physiological parameter given one or more body parameters and a motion signal provided by a measurement device. Various AI techniques can be used, for example, regression models, Gaussian processes, neural networks, k-nearest neighbors, or support vector machines. In one embodiment, scalar parameters, such as waist circumference, resting stroke volume, BMI, age, or gender, are specified as inputs to the model. Furthermore, in one embodiment, a model of the dielectric property distribution in a region of interest, such as the torso of a subject, is obtained based on MRI, CT, or ultrasound imaging. The dielectric property distribution can be provided as input to train the AI ​​and later to update the model.

[0146] In a further embodiment, the specific distribution and specific dimensions of human components, such as organs, bones, skin, etc. of the subject for which a relationship between the motion signals provided by the measuring device and physiological parameters is to be determined, are determined based on images of the subject, such as CT or MR images, and the relationship, i.e. a model, can be determined based on electromagnetic simulations applied to the specific distributions and specific dimensions determined for the human components.

[0147] In the above-described embodiments, the measurement device is configured to be worn by the subject, but it is also contemplated that the measurement device is not configured to be worn by the subject. For example, the measurement device may be a handheld device that is held on the front of the subject, such as on the chest, to determine the physiological parameter. The measurement device may also be configured to be placed on a wall, or on a rack, stage, etc., in which case the subject may be positioned in front of the measurement device to determine the physiological parameter.

[0148] Although in the embodiments described above the RF antenna(s) have particular configurations, the RF antenna(s) may be configured in other ways.

[0149] For example, as shown in Fig. 12, the RF antenna 401 can be a dipole antenna with two separate conductive sub-elements 402, 403, i.e. with opposing T-shaped ends 407, 408, i.e. with legs with T-shaped ends 407, 408. The T-shaped ends 407, 408 can increase the bandwidth and increase the sensitivity perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the straight conductive element. The inventors have found that a total antenna length 404 of 180 mm, i.e. the total length of the straight conductive element, in other words the length 404 from one end of the T to the other end of the T, a narrow width 405 of each T-shape of 30 mm and a wide width 406 of each T-shape of 50 mm, provides an optimized trade-off between sensitivity to cardiac motion and bandwidth. In a preferred embodiment, this dipole antenna 401 has these geometric dimensions, or at least dimensions within 10% of the optimum values ​​given above. The length direction of the dipole antenna 401 is defined by the longitudinal axis of the straight conductive element, and the width direction is defined as the direction perpendicular to this longitudinal axis.

[0150] In Figure 12, reference symbol 409 refers to the lungs and reference symbol 410 refers to the heart. Figure 12 illustrates how dipole antenna 401 can be positioned on a subject's chest relative to the location of the heart and lungs.

[0151] In a further embodiment shown diagrammatically and by way of example in Fig. 13, the RF antenna is a loop coil 501 comprising a circular conductive element 503, such as a wire or conductive strip of corresponding shape, with gaps in which the matching circuit 503 and the connection to the RF instrument are placed. In this embodiment, the loop coil 501 has a number of further gaps 502 in its conductive element, with respective capacitors C2, C3, C4 being placed in each of the further gaps 502. A capacitor C1 is also placed in the gap 504 in which the matching circuit 503 is present.

[0152] The RF instrument can be configured to operate the loop coil 501 in a loop mode as shown in FIG. 13B. The combination of the inductance of the conductive element and the multiple capacitors causes the loop coil to resonate at a respective frequency ω=1 / √(LC), where L is the total inductance of the conductive element (which may be circular) and C is the total capacitance of the multiple capacitors. The loop coil 501 operates in the loop mode by using a relatively low operating frequency flow where the capacitors do not act as blocking structures. Correspondingly, in the loop mode, the current flows substantially uniformly along the entire length of the conductive element, as shown by the arrows in FIG. 13B.

[0153] The RF instrument can also be configured to operate the loop coil 501 in dipole mode, where the loop coil 501 acts like a dipole antenna. In dipole mode, the RF instrument operates at an operating frequency f 1 where the loop coil 501 becomes so large that the current does not reach the capacitors C2 and C4. high Correspondingly, in the dipole mode, only the conductive sub-elements 505, 506 connected to the RF instrument have current, and these conductive sub-elements 505, 506 through which current flows act like a dipole antenna, as indicated by the arrows in FIG.

[0154] By operating the loop coil in loop and dipole modes, the loop coil can resonate at multiple frequencies, thereby improving sensitivity over a wide frequency range and thus improving the accuracy of determining physiological parameters.

[0155] In a preferred embodiment, the diameter of said circular conductive element 503 of the loop coil 501, for example the diameter of the circular conductive element 503 of the loop coil 501, is in the range of 70 mm to 120 mm, more preferably in the range of 100 mm to 120 mm, and most preferentially 110 mm. The inventors have found that a loop coil with these diameter values ​​can provide a motion signal related to the mechanical movement of the heart with even greater accuracy. Furthermore, in a preferred embodiment, the loop coil is tuned to a primary resonant frequency of 433 MHz and a secondary resonant frequency of 920 MHz, as shown diagrammatically and by way of example in Fig. 14. These frequencies correspond to radio bands reserved for industrial, medical and scientific (ISM) purposes.

[0156] The matching circuit 503 may comprise a matching inductor L1, or alternatively a capacitor and a grid balun, to match the impedance of the loop coil 501 to the characteristic impedance of the connection 507 to the RF instrument, which is preferably a coaxial cable.

[0157] In one embodiment, the loop coil has a diameter of 110 mm, the capacitors C2, C3 and C4 each have a capacitance value of 1.8 pF, the capacitor C1 has a capacitance value of 5.6 pF, and the matching inductor L1 has an inductance of 22 nH. These values ​​are particularly preferred when the loop coil needs to be tuned to a first resonant frequency of 433 MHz (loop mode) and a second resonant frequency of 920 MHz (dipole mode).

[0158] In a further embodiment, the loop coil operates at an operating frequency of 140 MHz and has a diameter of 110 mm, the capacitors C2-C4 have capacitance values ​​of 15 pF, the capacitor C1 has a capacitance value of 33 pF and the inductor L1 has a value of 82 nH.

[0159] In a preferred embodiment, the loop coil 501 is positioned on the subject's chest such that the capacitor C1 in the gap 504 close to the connection to the RF instrument can be placed at the sternal midline, in particular at the level of the fourth intercostal space. In particular, the loop coil can be placed in a wearable holder, and when the subject wears the wearable holder, the wearable holder and the loop coil 501 can be positioned such that the capacitor C1 close to the connection to the RF instrument can be placed in the middle of the sternal midline, preferentially at the level of the fourth intercostal space.

[0160] Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims, in practicing the claimed invention.

[0161] In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality.

[0162] A single unit or device may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

[0163] The procedures of determining physiological parameters, training a model etc. performed by one or more units or devices may be performed by any other number of units or devices. These procedures and / or the control of the components of the system for determining physiological parameters of a subject according to the above-mentioned method for determining physiological parameters of a subject and / or the control of the training system according to the training model may be implemented as program code means of a computer program and / or as dedicated hardware.

[0164] The computer program may be stored / distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium, provided together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless remote communication systems.

[0165] Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

[0166] 1 System 2. Vector Network Analyzer 3 RF Antenna Module 4 RF Antennas 5 RF Antennas 6. Heart 7. Subjects 9 Transmitter 12 Decision Device

Claims

1. A system (1) for determining a physiological parameter of a subject (7), comprising: a measuring device (8) including: a) an RF antenna module (3) having one or more RF antennas (4, 5); and b) an RF instrument (2) connected to the RF antenna module (3) and configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module (3), receive RF signals from the RF antenna module (3), and provide a motion signal related to a mechanical motion of a structure (6) within the subject (7) based on the received RF signals; a determination device (12) configured to determine the physiological parameter based on the given movement signal, said determination device comprising: a model providing module (14) configured to provide a model that gives as output the physiological parameter when given a movement signal as input; and a processor (15) configured to determine the physiological parameter based on the provided model and the given movement signal; Equipped with The system, wherein the RF instrument (2) is configured to provide a complex signal as the motion signal, and the processor (15) is configured to identify a first sub-signal of the complex signal having a different phase shift with respect to a second sub-signal of the complex signal, and to determine the physiological parameter based on at least one of these sub-signals.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the phase shift is 90 degrees.

3. The system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the RF instrument (2) and the RF antenna module (3) are configured to operate in the frequency range of 30 to 1000 MHz.

4. A system as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the RF instrument (2) and the RF antenna module (3) are configured to operate in a frequency range of 300 to 800 MHz.

5. A system as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the RF instrument (2) and the RF antenna module (3) are configured to operate in a frequency range of 30 to 300 MHz.

6. The system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the RF instrument (2) and the RF antenna (3) are configured to operate at an operating frequency of 64, 128 or 300 MHz.

7. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the RF antenna module (3) includes at least a first RF antenna and a second RF antenna, the RF instrument (2) and the RF antenna module (3) are configured to provide a first motion signal of the first RF antenna related to a mechanical movement of a first structure within the subject (7) and to measure a second motion signal of the second RF antenna related to a mechanical movement of a second structure (6) within the subject (7), and the processor is configured to remove from the first motion signal a contribution of the movement of the second structure (6) to the first motion signal based on the provided first and second motion signals, and to determine the physiological parameter based on the first motion signal.

8. 3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the processor (15) is configured to apply a blind source separation technique to generate a processed motion signal and to determine the physiological parameter using the processed motion signal and the provided model, and / or the model providing module (14) is configured to provide at least one of a linear regression model, a polynomial regression model, and a Gaussian process regression model as the model.

9. 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor (15) is configured to generate a second-order blind identification (SOBI) component as the processed motion signal by applying a second-order blind identification (SOBI) technique as the blind source separation technique, and the model providing module (14) is configured to provide the Gaussian process regression model as the model.

10. 3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the RF antenna module (3) comprises a plurality of RF antennas (4, 5) having different transmission phases that define a sensitivity profile of the RF antenna module (3), the RF antenna module (3) being configured such that the sensitivity profile has a maximum sensitivity at the position of the structure (6).

11. 3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the measuring device is configured to measure different movement signals for different frequencies, and the determining device is configured to determine the physiological parameter based on the movement signals measured for the different frequencies.

12. 3. The system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the one or more RF antennas include at least one of a gapped dipole antenna and a loop coil in which a capacitor is disposed.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more RF antennas include a loop coil with a conductive element having a plurality of gaps, and the capacitor is disposed in the gaps.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the RF instrument is configured to operate the loop coil in a loop mode in which current flows along the entire length of the conductive element, and / or in a dipole mode in which the loop coil functions like a dipole antenna.

15. A determination device (12) for determining a physiological parameter of a subject based on a movement signal measured by a measuring device, comprising: The measuring device includes: a) an RF antenna module (3) having one or more RF antennas (4, 5); and b) an RF instrument (2) connected to the RF antenna module (3) and configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module (3), receive RF signals from the RF antenna module (3), and provide a motion signal related to a mechanical movement of a structure (6) within a subject (7) based on the received RF signals, The determination device (12) comprises a model providing module (14) configured to provide a model that, when a motion signal is provided as an input, provides a physiological parameter as an output, and a processor (15) configured to determine the physiological parameter based on the provided model and the provided motion signal, 2. The determination device according to claim 1, wherein the given motion signal is a complex signal, and the processor (15) is configured to identify a first sub-signal of the complex signal having a different phase shift with respect to a second sub-signal of the complex signal, and to determine the physiological parameter based on at least one of these sub-signals.

16. A training system (21) for training a model to be used in a system for determining a physiological parameter of a subject (7) according to claim 1, comprising: a training physiological parameter measuring device (24) for measuring a training physiological parameter of the subject (7); a model providing module (26) configured to provide an adaptive model to be trained, said model providing as output physiological parameters given a motion signal as input; an RF antenna module (3) having one or more RF antennas (4, 5); and an RF instrument (2) connected to the RF antenna module (3) and configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module (3), receive RF signals from the RF antenna module (3), and provide a motion signal related to a mechanical motion of a structure (6) within the subject (7) based on the received RF signals when the RF antenna module (3) is placed on the subject (7); a training module (25) configured to a) determine physiological parameters of the subject (7) based on the model to be trained and on the movement signals provided by the RF instrument (2) and the RF antenna module (3), and b) modify the model such that the deviation between the determined physiological parameters and the training physiological parameters is reduced; Equipped with 1. A training system, comprising: the RF instrument (2) configured to provide a complex signal as the motion signal; and the training module (25) configured to identify a first sub-signal of the complex signal having a different phase shift with respect to a second sub-signal of the complex signal, and to determine the physiological parameter based on at least one of these sub-signals.

17. The training system of claim 16, wherein the training physiological parameter measuring device (24) is configured to measure the training physiological parameter of the subject using the RF antenna module (3).

18. A method (1) for determining a physiological parameter of a subject (7), comprising: providing a motion signal related to a mechanical movement of a structure (6) within a subject (7) by using an RF meter (2) and an RF antenna module (3) of a measuring device including: a) an RF antenna module (3) having one or more RF antennas (4, 5); and b) an RF meter (2) connected to the RF antenna module (3) and configured to transmit RF power to the RF antenna module (3), receive RF signals from the RF antenna module (3), and provide a motion signal related to a mechanical movement of a structure (6) within a subject (7) based on the received RF signals; providing, by a model providing module (14), a model that gives as output physiological parameters given as input a movement signal; determining, by a processor (15), said physiological parameters based on said provided model and on said motion signals; Including, The method of claim 1, wherein the processor (15) identifies a first sub-signal of the complex signal having a different phase shift relative to a second sub-signal of the complex signal, and determines the physiological parameter based on at least one of the sub-signals.

19. 16. A computer program for controlling a determination device for determining a physiological parameter according to claim 15, comprising program code means for causing said determination device (15) to determine said physiological parameter on the basis of a provided model, the model providing as output a physiological parameter when a motion signal is provided as input, and on the basis of a motion signal provided by a measuring device, the measuring device comprising: a) an RF antenna module (3) comprising one or more RF antennas (4, 5); and b) an RF instrument (2) connected to said RF antenna module (3) and configured to transmit RF power to said RF antenna module (3) and to receive RF signals from said RF antenna module (3) and to provide a motion signal related to a mechanical movement of a structure (6) within a subject (7) on the basis of the received RF signals, the provided motion signal being a complex signal, the determination device being adapted to identify a first sub-signal of said complex signal having a different phase shift with respect to a second sub-signal of said complex signal, and to determine said physiological parameter on the basis of at least one of these sub-signals.

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