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A 5.8-GHz ISM-Band radio-frequency sensor has been developed for non-contact measurement of respiration and heart rate from stationary and semi-stationary subjects at a distance of 0.5 to 1.5 meters. We report on the accuracy of the heart rate measurements obtained using two algorithmic approaches, as compared to a reference heart rate obtained using a pulse oximeter. Simultaneous Photoplethysmograph (PPG) and non-contact sensor recordings were recorded over fifteen minute periods for ten healthy subjects (8M/2F, ages 29.6 + or - 5.6 yrs) One algorithm is based on automated detection of individual peaks associated with each cardiac cycle; a second algorithm extracts a heart rate over a 60-second period using spectral analysis. Peaks were also extracted manually for comparison with the automated method. The peak-detection methods were less accurate than the spectral methods, but suggest the possibility of acquiring beat by beat data; the spectral algorithms measured heart rate to within + or -10% for the ten subjects chosen. Non-contact measurement of heart rate will be useful in chronic disease monitoring for conditions such as heart failure and cardiovascular disease.

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A soft board-board millimetre wave subarrayed Van Atta antenna has been designed fabricated and measured for asset tracking applications at 62GHz. Soft-board, 254 µm thickness and 2.19 relative permittivity, single and array patch antennas were designed and characterised. The elements and arrays are designed to be connected via microstrip to WR-15 waveguide transitions. Measurements of insertion loss for the transition have been performed and the transition used to allow patch array and subarray absolute gain values to be computed. The performance of the Van Atta Array is also given and peculiarities of its performance at mm-wave frequencies described. The characteristics of a millimetre wave integrated Silicon antenna are discussed also. The frequencies chosen for this work are 62.5 and 65.5 GHz. These are transmit and receive frequencies allocated for broadband Mobile wireless applications [1].

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