Noncontact RF Vital Sign Sensor for Continuous Monitoring of Driver Status

In this paper, a radio frequency vital sign sensor based on double voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) combined with a switchable phase-locked loop (PLL) is proposed for a noncontact remote vital sign sensing system. Our sensing system primarily detects the periodic movements of the human lungs and the hearts via the impedance variation of the resonator. With a change in impedance, both the VCO oscillation frequency and the PLL feedback voltage also change. Thus, by tracking the feedback voltage of the PLL, breath and heart rate signals can be acquired simultaneously. However, as the distance between the body and the sensor varies, there are certain points with minimal sensitivity, making it is quite difficult to detect vital signs. These points, called impedance null points, periodically occur at distances proportional to the wavelength. To overcome the impedance null point problem, two resonators operating at different frequencies, 2.40 and 2.76 GHz, are employed as receiving components. In an experiment to investigate the sensing performance as a function of distance, the measurement distance was accurately controlled by a linear actuator. Furthermore, to evaluate the sensing performance in a real environment, experiments were carried out with a male and a female subject in a static vehicle. To demonstrate the real-time vital sign monitoring capability, spectrograms were utilized, and the accuracy was assessed relative to reference sensors. Based on the results, it is demonstrated that the proposed remote sensor can reliably detect vital signs in a real vehicle environment.