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. 2016 Apr 13;11(4):e0152201.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152201. eCollection 2016.

Searching for Survivors through Random Human-Body Movement Outdoors by Continuous-Wave Radar Array

Chuantao Li  1 , Fuming Chen  1 , Fugui Qi  1 , Miao Liu  1 , Zhao Li  1 , Fulai Liang  1 , Xijing Jing  1 , Guohua Lu  1 , Jianqi Wang  1   2
Affiliations

Searching for Survivors through Random Human-Body Movement Outdoors by Continuous-Wave Radar Array

Chuantao Li et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

It is a major challenge to search for survivors after chemical or nuclear leakage or explosions. At present, biological radar can be used to achieve this goal by detecting the survivor's respiration signal. However, owing to the random posture of an injured person at a rescue site, the radar wave may directly irradiate the person's head or feet, in which it is difficult to detect the respiration signal. This paper describes a multichannel-based antenna array technology, which forms an omnidirectional detection system via 24-GHz Doppler biological radar, to address the random positioning relative to the antenna of an object to be detected. Furthermore, since the survivors often have random body movement such as struggling and twitching, the slight movements of the body caused by breathing are obscured by these movements. Therefore, a method is proposed to identify random human-body movement by utilizing multichannel information to calculate the background variance of the environment in combination with a constant-false-alarm-rate detector. The conducted outdoor experiments indicate that the system can realize the omnidirectional detection of random human-body movement and distinguish body movement from environmental interference such as movement of leaves and grass. The methods proposed in this paper will be a promising way to search for survivors outdoors.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Omnidirectional life detection radar system.
(A) Photograph of the omnidirectional life detection radar system. (B) Schematic of the radar coverage.
Fig 2
Fig 2. CFAR processor for body movement detection.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Photographs of the experimental scenes.
(A) The object was within one radar’s coverage range, and the main lobe was directly facing the object's abdomen. (B) The object was within one radar’s coverage range, and the main lobe was directly facing the object's head.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Detection results when a human body was within the coverage range of radar A, and the main lobe of radar A’s antenna was directly facing the human body’s abdomen.
(A) Signals acquired by the four radars. (B) Body movement identification results. (C) Periodogram obtained from Radar A. The data can be acquired from the supporting information files.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Detection results when a human body was within the common coverage range of two radars; the detected object was located between the radar-antenna side lobes of radar B and radar C.
(A) Signals acquired by the four radars. (B) Identification results. (C) Periodogram obtained from Radar B. (D) Periodogram obtained from Radar C. The data can be acquired from the supporting information files.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Detection results when a human body was within one radar’s coverage range and the main lobe of radar B’s antenna was directly facing the human body’s head.
(A) Signals acquired by the four radars. (B) Body movement identification results. (C) Periodogram obtained from Radar B. The data can be acquired from the supporting information files.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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