Radar Activity Sensing for Privacy-Safe Fall and Vital Sign Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for monitoring human activities, such as using cameras or wearable devices, are unreliable and intrusive, often failing to accurately detect falls or other life activities in a home environment due to user compliance issues and privacy concerns.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a radar emitter and receiver with multi-core processors and artificial intelligence processes to process UWB and FMCW signals, employing a plurality of antenna arrays for non-intrusive monitoring of human activities, including fall detection and vital sign measurement, through radar backscattering and sensor fusion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cameras or wearable devices are used for monitoring human activities, then monitoring capability is provided, but reliability and user compliance deteriorate due to privacy concerns and intrusiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical/wearable monitoring devices with a radar-based electromagnetic sensing system. The radar system uses radio frequency signals to detect human activities, eliminating the need for physical wearables or visible cameras, thereby improving reliability without compromising user compliance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces radar signals as an intermediary medium to detect human activities indirectly. Instead of direct visual contact (cameras) or physical attachment (wearables), the system uses electromagnetic wave reflections from the human body to infer activities, resolving the contradiction between reliable detection and user acceptance.
2Measurement precision
If conventional sensing devices are used, then some monitoring function is provided, but measurement precision deteriorates due to signal quality issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the monitoring task into multiple independent radar signal processing channels, each handling specific aspects of activity detection. By dividing the detection space into multiple zones and processing reflections from different directions separately, the system improves measurement precision while maintaining signal reliability through distributed sensing.
Solution Approach 2:
The radar system is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: detecting falls, monitoring vital signs, tracking position, and identifying various activities. This multi-functional approach improves measurement precision across different activity types while maintaining consistent signal quality through a unified sensing platform.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Provides reliable and high-quality signal detection of human activities, including falls and vital signs, without the need for wearable devices, offering improved accuracy and privacy, while reducing false positives in security applications.
Implementation Method 1
beaming with a radar emitter from a central hub, a plurality of radar signals into an interior room and receiving with a radar receiver within the central hub, a plurality of radar reflections in response to the plurality of radar signals
Data Source
AI summary
A method for a computing system includes beaming with a radar emitter from a central hub, a plurality of radar signals into an interior room, receiving with a radar receiver within the central hub, a plurality of radar reflections in response to the plurality of radar signals, processing with a processor within the central hub, the plurality of radar reflections to form a plurality of processed radar signals, determining with an AI processor within the central hub, at least one activity from a plurality of activities in response to the plurality of processed radar signals, and determining with a central processing unit within the central hub, a notification action to perform in response to the one or more activities.