UWB and mmWave Communication Techniques and Systems for Healthcare - Ultra-Wideband and 60 GHz Communications for Biomedical Applications - page 10

motion and a breath monitor to detect respiratory movements. Because the UWB
electromagnetic signal is not influenced by clothes or blankets, and the useful range
is in the order of a few metres, the use of the UWB radar in cardiac motion evaluation
is a wonderful complement to the electrocardiogram [ 9 ].
Having the simple transceiver architecture, the FM-UWB system is considered a
good candidate to realize UWB radar.
To achieve finer sensing resolution, multiple-frequency continuous wave radar
with the FM-UWB technique is proposed.
To integrate the real-time contact-less healthcare service into the smart phone,
the maximum range longer than 1 m is preferred. Another challenging part is to
develop a good model of heart movement during breathing. A proper algorithm
and signal processing are needed to detect the organic movement during breathing
condition. Therefore, a true contact-less health monitoring system with the mobile
devices such as smart phones needs more innovation in integration of sensing and
biomedical technologies.
Even though the heart movement is monitored with the fixed medical equipment
with a very short distance, it provides a practical way of contact-less monitoring
system where patients do not have to take off their clothes. For high-resolution
sensing, multiple FM-UWB radars may be employed. For data transmission from the
sensing device to the monitoring equipment, the low power simple S-OOK-based IR-
UWB transceiver is considered. By utilizing different UWB technologies for sensing
and transmission, crosstalk between two transceivers is minimized. Therefore, non-
invasive health monitoring with low radiated power and robust communication can
be achieved as a near-term contactless body monitoring solution [ 9 ].
Location-Aided Healthcare UWB Systems
UWB indoor positioning systems have gained widespread interest mainly due to
their robustness in mitigating multi-path interference and ability to resolve small path
delays in the time domain. Current commercial UWB indoor positioning systems
are rated at 10-30 cm of 3D real-time accuracy.
A possible application of indoor positioning systems for healthcare is the so-called
'smart bioinstrumentation' based on devices that combine biosensors with wireless
networking capability.
The integration of the positioning functionality provides connectivity and location
of the WBAN-equipped patients while they are outside of their home. In the hospital,
overall efficiency can be improved by allowing multiple pieces of medical equipment
to be controlled and monitored wirelessly by one single terminal device, while the
positioning functionality can provide locating assets and streamlining operation of
hospital staff through integrated enterprise architectures [ 17 ].
Other medical applications, like e.g., surgical navigation systems [ 18 ], typically
require 3D real-time tracking capabilities far beyond typical indoor wireless posi-
tioning systems. For example, orthopaedic surgical navigation systems require 3D