Human Breathing Rate Estimation from Radar Returns Using Harmonically Related Filters

Radar-based noncontact sensing of life sign signals is often used in safety and rescue missions during disasters such as earthquakes and avalanches and for home care applications. The radar returns obtained from a human target contain the breathing frequency along with its strong higher harmonics depending on the target’s posture. As a consequence, well understood, computationally efficient, and the most popular traditional FFT-based estimators that rely only on the strongest peak for estimates of breathing rates may be inaccurate. The paper proposes a solution for correcting the estimation errors of such single peak-based algorithms. The proposed method is based on using harmonically related comb filters over a set of all possible breathing frequencies. The method is tested on three subjects for different postures, for different distances between the radar and the subject, and for two different radar platforms: PN-UWB and phase modulated-CW (PM-CW) radars. Simplified algorithms more suitable for real-time implementation have also been proposed and compared using accuracy and computational complexity. The proposed breathing rate estimation algorithms provide a reduction of about 81% and 80% in the mean absolute error of breathing rates in comparison to the traditional FFT-based methods using strongest peak detection, for PN-UWB and PM-CW radars, respectively

The telecommunications and data acquisition report

Deep Space Network progress in flight project support, tracking and data acquisition research and technology, network engineering, hardware and software implemention, and operations is documented. In addition, developments in Earth based radio technology as applied to geodynamics, astrophysics, and the radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence are reported

Radar Imaging with a Network of Digital Noise Radar Systems

Today\u27s battlefield consists of a blend of humans and machines working together to locate and monitor the enemy. Due to the threat of terrorism, today\u27s enemy can be anyone and they can exist anywhere even in populated cities. Monitoring human activities in an urban environment is a difficult problem due to walls, clutter, and other obstructions. This thesis focused on developing a network of digital noise radar sensors that could operate simultaneously to track humans and non-human targets inside rooms and through walls. The theory, application, and results are discussed throughout this thesis. A noise radar works by cross correlating the received signal with a time delayed replica of the transmit signal. A high correlation indicates a target. A digital noise radar digitizes the transmit and receive signals and accomplishes the correlation in software. A network of three digital noise radars was constructed to triangulate the (x, y) position of a target within a room. The results were presented in two-dimensional graphs. In nine out of ten cases the stationary targets were clearly identified. In eight out of ten cases the stationary targets were located within the range solution of the system, 0.375 m. In the one miss case, the results image indicated the presence of the human target, but the detection was faint and possible to miss. Tests were also accomplished with moving human targets. In these tests the network of radar systems tracked the human target in an empty and cluttered room until the target was out of range. The test results prove that a network of simultaneously operating noise radars can locate and track human and non-human targets within rooms

The Deep Space Network

Deep Space Network progress in flight project support, tracking and data acquisition, research and technology, network engineering, hardware and software implementation, and operations is cited. Topics covered include: tracking and ground based navigation; spacecraft/ground communication; station control and operations technology; ground communications; and deep space stations

Multifunction Transceiver Architecture and Technology for Future Wireless Systems

RÉSUMÉ Depuis la toute première transmission sans fil, les ondes radiofréquences ont été progressivement mises en valeur et exploitées dans un nombre de plus en plus important d'applications. Parmi toutes ces applications, la détection et la télécommunication sont sans doute les plus indispensables de nos jours. Il existe un grand nombre d’utilisations des radiofréquences, incluant les transports intelligents pour lesquels les véhicules doivent être équipés à la fois de radars et de dispositifs de communication afin d’être capables de détecter l'environnement ainsi que de réaliser la communication avec d'autres unités embarquées. La technologie émergente 5G est un autre exemple pour lequel plusieurs capteurs et radios devraient être capables de coopérer de manière autonome ou semi-autonome. Les principes de fonctionnement des systèmes radars et radio sont toutefois différents. Ces différences fondamentales peuvent entraîner l'utilisation de différentes architectures de traitement du signal et d'émetteur-récepteur, ce qui peut poser des problèmes pour l'intégration de toutes les fonctions requises au sein d'une seule et même plate-forme. En dehors de cela, certaines applications requièrent plusieurs fonctions simultanément dans un même dispositif. Par exemple, les systèmes de détection d'angle d'arrivée 2D nécessitent d'estimer l'angle d'arrivée (AOA) du faisceau entrant dans les plans horizontal et vertical simultanément. La communication radio multi-bandes et multi-modes est un autre exemple pour lequel un système radio doit être capable de communiquer dans plusieurs bandes de fréquences et dans plusieurs modes, par exemple, un duplexage en fonction de la fréquence ou du temps. À première vue, on peut penser que l'assemblage de plusieurs dispositifs distincts n'est pas la meilleure solution en ce qui concerne le coût, la simplicité et la fonctionnalité. Par conséquent, une direction de recherche consiste à proposer une architecture d'émetteur-récepteur unifiée et compacte plutôt qu’une plate-forme assemblant de multiples dispositifs distincts. C’est cette problématique qui est spécifiquement abordée dans ce travail. Selon les fonctions à intégrer dans un seul et unique système multifonctionnel, la solution peut traiter plusieurs aspects simultanément. Par exemple, toute solution réalisant l'intégration de fonctions liées au radar et à la radio devrait traiter deux aspects principaux, à savoir : la forme d'onde opérationnelle et l'architecture frontale RF.----------ABSTRACT Since the very early wireless transmission of radiofrequency signals, it has been gradually flourished and exploited in a wider and wider range of applications. Among all those applications of radio technology, sensing and communicating are undoubtedly the most indispensable ones. There are a large number of practical scenarios such as intelligent transportations in which vehicles must be equipped with both radar and communication devices to be capable of both sensing the environment and communication with other onboard units. The emerging 5G technology can be another important example in which multiple sensors and radios should be capable of cooperating with each other in an autonomous or semi-autonomous manner. The operation principles of these radar and radio devices are different. Such fundamental differences can result in using different operational signal, distinct signal processing, and transceiver architectures in these systems that can raise challenges for integration of all required functions within a single platform. Other than that, there exist some applications where several functions of a single device (i.e. sensor or radio) are required to be executed simultaneously. For example, 2D angle-of-arrival detection systems require estimating the angle of arrival (AOA) of the incoming beam in both horizontal and vertical planes at the same time. Multiband and multimode radio communication is another example of this kind where a radio system is desired to be capable of communication within several frequency bands and in several modes, e.g., time or frequency division duplexing. At a first glance, one can feel that the mechanical assembling of several distinct devices is not the best solution regarding the cost, simplicity and functionality or operability. Hence, the research attempt in developing a rather unified and compact transceiver architecture as opposed to a classical platform with assembled multiple individual devices comes out of horizon, which is addressed specifically in this work. Depending on the wireless functions that are to be integrated within a single multifunction system, the solution should address multiple aspects simultaneously. For instance, any solution for integrating radar and radio related functions should be able to deal with two principal aspects, namely operational waveform and RF front-end architecture. However, in some other above- mentioned examples such as 2D DOA detection system, identical operational waveform may be used and the main challenge of functional integration would pertain to a unification of multiple mono-functional transceivers

Publications of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1976

The formalized technical reporting, released January through December 1975, that resulted from scientific and engineering work performed, or managed, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is described and indexed. The following classes of publications are included: (1) technical reports; (2) technical memorandums; (3) articles from bi-monthly Deep Space Network (DSN) progress report; (4) special publications; and (5) articles published in the open literature. The publications are indexed by: (1) author, (2) subject, and (3) publication type and number. A descriptive entry appears under the name of each author of each publication; an abstract is included with the entry for the primary (first-listed) author. Unless designated otherwise, all publications listed are unclassified

The telecommunications and data acquisition

Radio astronomy and radio interferometry at microwave frequencies are discussed. Other topics concerning the Deep Space Network include program planning, planetary and interplanetary mission support, tracking and ground based navigation, communications, and station control and system technology

A note on the R sub 0-parameter for discrete memoryless channels

An explicit class of discrete memoryless channels (q-ary erasure channels) is exhibited. Practical and explicit coded systems of rate R with R/R sub o as large as desired can be designed for this class