Effects of Antenna Characteristics on the Performance of Heart Rate Monitoring Radar Systems

This communication investigates the effects of antenna radiation parameters on the detection capabilities of a continuous-wave 2.4-GHz Doppler radar used in noncontact heart rate monitoring systems. Four different types of patch antennas and array configurations were implemented on the transmitter and receiver sides. Extensive experiments using a linear actuator were performed, and several important observations were reported. A specific configuration of antennas was shown to result in the highest signal quality and system performance. Proof-of-concept experiments on human subjects further validated the suggested results, showing that the recommended antenna arrangement boosts the radar detection accuracy by an average of 11%.