Utilization of radar technology to monitor the health status of a driver
- Sumin Kim
- Mar 10, 2024
- 2 min read
A research team at the University of Waterloo, inspired by the medical bay of the USS Enterprise from “Star Trek,” utilizes radar technology to monitor people’s health while driving, transforming an ordinary car or truck into a mobile medical hub. See the full research paper “Multibin Breathing Pattern Estimation by Radar Fusion for Enhanced Driver Monitoring” published in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.
Dr. George Shaker, an adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, is collaborating with a team of graduate students to merge radar with evolving vehicle technology to create more convenient health checks. The aim is to make use of the time people spend in their cars to collect data on their health for accurate analysis and proactive treatment in the absence of any kind of wearable.
The radar, which is smaller than a USB thumb drive, is merged into the vehicle cabin and delivers signals that catch human vibrations, which are then sent back to the radar. During the driver’s commute, the built-in AI system gathers and analyzes the information to design a medical image and find any potential conditions. At the end of the commute, the system sends the report straight to their cell phone for review.
According to Shaker, this radar technology is not new — it was developed back in 2017 for “infotainment touchless control and to alert people to children and pets left alone in parked vehicles.”
The technology can detect subtle movements like the rise and fall of the chest from breathing or heartbeats. For Shaker and his team, the objective was developing the tech to identify shifts in breathing patterns or heart rhythms that indicate potential health problems related to cardiovascular conditions such as tachycardia and bradycardia along with respiratory problems like tachypnea, bradypnea, and apnea.
The system is reliable as a series of tests using synthetic data validated the system’s capability for accuracy in detection and interpretation, and also respects user privacy and security according to Ali Gharamohammadi, the lead Ph.D. student on the research project.
The team is expanding on this work to expand the radar technologies capability in many aspects, including the technology monitoring all vehicle occupants’ general health and well-being.
X, S. (2024, March 26). Researchers use radar technology to monitor the health status of a driver. Tech Xplore - Technology and Engineering news. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-03-radar-technology-health-status-driver.html
Mobile ultra-low Power Radar System for Medical Applications • iCampus. iCampus. (2023, May 30).
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