Current cardiopulmonary activity monitoring is based on contact devices which cannot be used in extreme cases such as premature infants, burnt victims or rescue operations. In order to overcome these limitations, the use of radar technologies emerges as an alternative. This paper aims to enhance the comprehension that non-contact technologies, in particular radar techniques, offer as a monitoring tool. For this purpose, a modified low cost commercial 122 GHz frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar is used to better fit the current application domain. The radar signals obtained are processed using a classic linear filtering algorithm aiming to separate the breathing from the heartbeat component while preserving signals integrity. In a standoff configuration and with different subject orientations, results show that the signal obtained with the radar can be used to extract not only the respiratory and heartbeat rates, but also the heart rate variability (HRV) sequence. Moreover, results evidence the coupling between breathing and heartbeat, also showing that the HRV sequence obtained can identify the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) effect. Finally, the radar is tested in a simultaneous multi-target scenario, demonstrating its monitoring capabilities in more complex situations. Nevertheless, there are some challenges left to use the system in a real-life monitoring environments, such as the removal of random body movements.

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