Tracking people and monitoring their vital signs using body radio reflections

Wireless signals are typically used for data communication between an RF transmitter and an RF receiver. Recent advances in wireless technologies, however, have demonstrated that a person's motion can modulate the wireless signal, enabling the transfer of information from a human to an RF transceiver, even when the person does not carry a transmitter. This leads to new wireless systems in which a user communicates directly with remote devices using gestures. It also allows for using wireless signals to learn about the environment. For example, one may track objects and people as they move around, purely based on how their motion modulates the wireless signal. This could lead to new video games and virtual reality applications that work in non-line-of-sight and across rooms. It can also be used for health-care monitoring in hospitals or at home, and for intrusion detection or search-and-rescue operations. In this talk, I will present sensing technologies that pinpoint people's locations based purely on RF reflections off their bodies. They can further track a person's breathing and heartbeat remotely, without requiring any body contact. They operate by transmitting a low-power wireless signal and monitoring its reflections. They use these reflections to track body motion as well as minute movements associated with breathing and heartbeat (e.g., the chest movements caused by the inhale-exhale process). We envision that such technologies can enable truly smart homes that learn people's habits and monitor their vital signs to adapt the environment and actively contribute to their inhabitants' well-being.