Analysis of Polarimetric Radar Effects in Respiratory Measurements

Abstract

Physiological Doppler radar measurements for respiration do not typically take into consideration polarimetric effects caused by scattering from the irregular surface of the respiring torso. This study investigated the performance of a physiological Doppler radar system using both vertically and horizontally polarized transmit antennas, each in combination with both vertically and horizontally polarized receive antennas. Return signatures were analyzed for robotic phantom targets with varied arrangements of curvature, and for a representative group of human subjects. The results showed that while cylindrical targets generated significant amounts of cross-polarized return signal, typical human subject return signals produced an even larger proportion of cross-polarized signal.