ABSTRACT

Microwave Life-Detection Systems for Searching Human Subjects Under Earthquake

Rubble or Behind Barrier:

A new sensitive microwave life-detection system which can be used to locate human subjects buried
under earthquake rubble or hidden behind various barriers has been constructed. This system operating
at 1150 MHz or 450 MHz can detect the breathing and heartbeat signals of human subjects through an
earthquake rubble or a construction barrier of about 10-ft thickness. The basic physical principle for the
operation of a microwave life-detection system is rather simple.

When a microwave beam of appropriate frequency (L or S band) is aimed at a pile of earthquake rubble
covering a human subject or illuminated through a barrier obstructing a human subject, the microwave
beam can penetrate the rubble or the barrier to reach the human subject. When the human subject is
illuminated by a microwave beam, the reflected wave from the human subject will be modulated by the
subject’s body movements, which include the breathing and the heartbeat.

If the clutter consisting of the reflected wave from stationary background can be completely eliminated
and the reflected wave from the human subject’s body is properly modulated, the breathing and
heartbeat signals of the subject can be extracted. Thus, a human subject buried under earthquake
rubble or hidden behind barriers can be located.

This system has been tested extensively in a simulated earthquake rubble in the laboratory and also in a
field test using realistic earthquake rubble conducted by a Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) Task Force.

Keywords: Breathing and heartbeat signals, clutter cancellation, earthquake rubble, laboratory and
field tests, microwave life-detection systems.
INTRODUCTION:
Existing methods for searching and rescuing human victims buried under earthquake rubble or
collapsed building debris are the utilization of dogs, or seismic or optical devices. These existing
devices are not effective if the rubble or debris covering the human victims is thicker than a few
teet, especially for the case when the victims are completely trapped or too weak to respond to
the signal sent by the rescuers.

Thus, there is great demand for constructing a new sensitive life-detection system which can be
used to locate human victims trapped deep under earthquake rubble or collapsed building debris.
Especially, the system needs to be sensitive enough to detect the breathing and heartbeat signals of
passive victims who are completely trapped or too weak to respond to the existing seismic detection
system. We have constructed a sensitive life-detection system for such purposes using microwave
radiation. In this paper we will describe a microwave life-detection system constructed at Michigan
State University supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The construction of the microwave life-detection system for the post earthquake rescue operation is a
spin-off of a research project conducted by us for constructing a microwave life-detection system for
sensing the physiological status of soldiers lying on the ground of a battlefield. We constructed a
microwave life-detection system which operates at the X-band (10 GHz) for such a purpose [1], [2] in
1980. Such an X-band microwave beam cannot penetrate earthquake rubble or collapsed building debris
sufficiently deep to locate the buried human victims. For an electromagnetic (EM) wave to penetrate
deep (up to 10 ft) into the rubble or the debris, the frequency of the electromagnetic wave need to be in
the L or S band range. For this reason, we have constructed two systems, one operating at 450 MHz and
the other at 1150 MHz [3]–[7]. Each system has advantages and disadvantages depending on the nature
of the rubble as will be explained later.

The basic physical principle for the operation of a microwave life-detection system is rather simple.
When a microwave beam of appropriate frequency (L or S band) is aimed at a pile of earthquake rubble
or collapsed building debris under which a human subject is buried, the microwave beam can penetrate
through the rubble or the debris to reach the subject. When the human subject is illuminated by the
microwave beam, the reflected wave from the subject will be modulated by the subject’s body
movements, which include the breathing and the heartbeat. If the reflected wave from the stationary
background can be cancelled and the reflected wave from the subject’s body is properly demodulated,
the breathing and heartbeat signals of the subject can be extracted. Thus, a human subject buried under
the rubble or the debris can be located.
BLOCK DIAGRAM:

Advantages of Microwave:

1.Increased bandwidth availability (1 GHz-103 GHz).

2.Improved directive properties.

3.Transmitter /receiver power requirements are very low.

CONCLUSION:
A new sensitive life-detection system using microwave radiation for locating human subjects
buried under earthquake rubble or hidden behind various barriers has been constructed. This
system operating at 1150 or 450 MHz can detect the breathing and heartbeat signals of human
subjects through an earthquake rubble or a construction barrier of about 10-ft thickness. This
system has been tested extensively with satisfactory results in a simulated earthquake rubble
constructed at the Electromagnetics Laboratory of Michigan State University. It has also been
tested in a field test using realistic earthquake rubble at Rockville, MD, conducted by Maryland
Task Force of FEMA. The possible shortcoming of this system is the effects of the background
noise created by the environment and operators. A sophisticated signal processing scheme may
further improve the system performance

REFERENCES:
[1] K. M. Chen, D. Misra, H. Wang, H. R. Chuang, and E. Postow, “An X-band microwave life-detection
system,” IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., vol. BME-33, pp. 697–702, July 1986.

[2] H. R. Chuang, Y. F. Chen, and K. M. Chen, “Automatic clutter-canceller for microwave life-detection
system,” IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 40, pp. 747–750, Aug. 1991.

[3] K. M. Chen, J. Kallis, Y. Huang, J. T. Sheu, A. Norman, C. S. Lai, and A. Halac, “EM wave life-detection
system for post-earthquake rescue operation,” presented at the 1994 URSI Radio Science Meeting,
Seattle, WA, June 19–24, 1994.

[4] K. M. Chen, Y. Huang, A. Norman, and R. Ilavarasan, “EM wave lifedetection system for post-
earthquake rescue operation,” presented at the 1995 IEEE/APS and Radio Science Int. Symp., Newport
Beach, CA, June 18–23, 1995.

[5] K. M. Chen, Y. Huang, A. Norman, and Y. Yerramille, “EM wave life-detection system for post-
earthquake rescue operation-field test and modifications,” in Proc. 1996 IEEE/APS-URSI Int. Symp.,
Baltimore, MD, July 21–26, 1996.

[6] K. M. Chen, Y. Huang, A. Norman, and J. Zhang, “Microwave life-detection system for detecting
human subjects through barriers,” in Proc. Progress in Electromagnetic Research Symp., Hong Kong,
Hong Kong, Jan. 6–9, 1997.