VitRad: A low-cost continuous wave Doppler radar system with 3D-printed horn antennas for human vital sign detection

In this study, a low-cost continuous wave (CW) radar system with 3D-printed high-gain horn antennas called VitRad is proposed for human vital sign detection. The CW radar consists of 3D-printed high-gain horn antennas, commercially available low-cost surface-mounting devices, and monolithic ICs. The CW radar system operates at a frequency band of 5.8 GHz, and the backscattered I/Q data are collected using a digital storage oscilloscope (DSO). The data is processed on MATLAB to determine vital sign information such as respiratory and heartbeat rates. It is demonstrated that the proposed CW radar system for vital-sign monitoring can effectively measure respiratory and heartbeat rates.