Battlefield triage life signs detection techniques

Olga Boric-Lubecke, Jenshan Lin, Byung Kwon Park, Changzhi Li, Wansuree Massagram, Victor M. Lubecke, Anders Host-Madsen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Getting to wounded soldiers on the battlefield is a precarious task, and medics have a very high casualty rate. It is therefore a vital importance to prioritize which soldiers to attend to first. The first step is to detect life signs - if a soldier is dead or alive, and prioritize recovery of live soldiers. The second step is to obtain vital signs from live soldiers, and use this to prioritize which are in most urgent need of attention. Our team at Kai Sensors, University of Hawaii and University of Florida is developing Doppler radar heart sensing technology that provides the means to detect life signs, respiration and/or heart beat, at a distance, even for subjects lying motionless, e.g., unconscious subjects, wearing body armor, and hidden from direct view. Since this technology can deliver heart rate information with high accuracy, it may also enable the assessment of a subject's physiological and psychological state based on heart rate variability (HRV) analysis. Thus, the degree of a subject's injury may also be determined. The software and hardware developments and challenges for life signs detection and monitoring for battlefield triage will be discussed, including heart signal detection from all four sides of the human body, detection in the presence of body armor, and the feasibility of HRV parameter extraction.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRadar Sensor Technology XII
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008
EventRadar Sensor Technology XII - Orlando, FL, United States
Duration: Mar 18 2008Mar 19 2008

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume6947
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Conference

ConferenceRadar Sensor Technology XII
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityOrlando, FL
Period03/18/0803/19/08

Keywords

  • Battlefield triage
  • Body armor
  • Doppler radar
  • Heart detection
  • Ka-band
  • Life signs

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