Millimeter-Wave Radar Sensing of Wombat Respiration

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using 79-GHz millimeter-wave radar for non-contact respiratory monitoring of wombats, achieving high accuracy in estimating respiratory intervals and rates through harmonic autocorrelation analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel radar-based method for non-contact wombat respiration monitoring, with validated experiments showing accurate estimations across different conditions.

Findings

Respiratory interval estimation error of 47.4 ms (2.44%)

Respiratory rate estimation error of 0.81 bpm (2.21%)

Seasonal variations observed in wombat respiration rates

Abstract

This study demonstrates the feasibility of radar-based non-contact respiratory monitoring for wombats. Two measurement experiments were conducted in June and December 2024 using 79-GHz millimeter-wave radar systems to monitor the respiration of two wombats. To estimate the respiratory interval, we used a method based on summing harmonic components in the autocorrelation function, capturing the quasi-periodic displacement of the body surface caused by respiration. Estimation accuracy was evaluated through simultaneous measurements from different angles using two radar units. The respiratory interval and respiratory rate were measured with errors of 47.4 ms (2.44%) and 0.81 bpm (2.21%), respectively. We also discuss the differences in respiratory rates between the two wombats, as well as seasonal variations between June and December. The results support the potential application of this method to non-contact health monitoring of wombats.