GOVERNMENT POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

PALAKKAD

SEMINAR REPORT ON

LIFE DETECTION SYSTEM USING

L AND S BAND MICROWAVE

PRESENTED BY

ROSHIN K
REG NO: 17040424

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

2019-2020
 DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS
ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE

This is the bonafied record of seminar on " LIFE DETECTION SYSTEM

USING L AND S BAND MICROWAVE” submitted by ROSHIN K Final
year ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING student, Government Polytechnic
College, Palakkad in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of
DIPLOMA IN ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING under the Directorate of
Technical Education, Kerala state during the year 2019-2020.

PLACE: PALAKKAD
DATE:………………… STAFF – IN – CHARGE

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT

 GOVERNMENT POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE
PALAKKAD

VISION
To be a centre of excellence in engineering education for providing valuable
resources to industries and society.

MISSION
 Providing quality education in engineering and technology
 Involving in the development of society through technology transfer, entrepreneurship
and industry interaction
 To inculcate social responsibility and ethical values among students through value
education

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

VISION
“To be a centre of academic excellence imparting necessary knowledge and
skills in the field of Electronics to enable students for higher education, employment
and entrepreneurship”.

MISSION
 Grooming the students with strong foundations of Electronics Engineering and
facilitating them to pursue higher education.
 Imparting knowledge and training for current and advanced technology in the
field of Electronics.
 Providing facilities to students for familiarizing with employment and
entrepreneurship opportunities.

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 STANDARDIZATION OF LABORATORIES
5S

Special dedicated team should be formed for sorting, organizing, and

sustaining the organized work culture at the machine shop. The 5S Team
works on the 5 Japanese principles of organization, which have been
successfully implemented at various shop floors around the world. The 5
pillars of organization that we aim at are:

SORT (SEIRI)

Sort means that you remove all items from the workplace that are not
needed for current machine shop activities. This essentially involves
segregating items of immediate use from items that are not needed.

SET IN ORDER (SEITON)

Setting in order whatever has been "Sorted." Labeling and

marking down required items of usage. Creating designated areas for
frequently used tools and arranging them so that they are easy to find.

SHINE (SEISO)

Cleaning up after the work is over. Putting tools and used materials back
in their designated places, the way they were "Set in order." Cleaning and
sweeping the workplaces, so as to avoid any hazardous materials spills and
other accidents at the workplace.

STANDARDIZE (SEIKETSU)

Standardize whatever has been achieved so far using the first three
pillars. Making it a part of the daily routine and setting aside time to sort, set
in order, and shine repeatedly.

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SUSTAIN (SHITSUKE)

Sustaining is maintaining the clean and organized work environment over a long period of
time to enhance productivity. Once the first two pillars are implemented during the
initial sessions of the laboratory, third to fifth pillars should be made a regular activity
before commencement of any laboratory work and after concluding any days work and
should be monitored. The same criteria can be adopted for any laboratory, irrespective of
the programme.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all I thank God almighty with whose blessing I presented the seminar up to
this .The seminar being an integral part of the curriculum and we would like to thank the
people who extended a helping hand in this venture.

At first I express our heartfelt thanks and deep sense of gratitude to Shri.M.
Chandrakumar, The principal of Government polytechnic College, Palakkad for
granting the permission to present this seminar.

In this moment I record indebtedness Smt.C.K.Bindhu (Head of the department of

Electronics Engineering, GPTC Palakkad) for all help in providing all faculties to present
this seminar in time.

With deep respect I express our gratitude to our guide Mr. Ravindran [Lecture in
Electronics Engineering] and to all staff members of the department of Electronics
Engineering for their valuable advice and guidance in presenting the seminar.

I also express my gratitude to my friends for their complete help and cooperation in
each step. Last but not the least I express my thank fullness and respect to my parents for
their encouragement throughout the seminar.

ROSHIN K

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 ABSTRACT

The "Life detection system: Based on L and S bands Microwaves" is a new

revolutionary embedded system to detect human beings buried under earthquake rubble or
debris. "Thousands of persons killed as a cause of earthquake". The above words aren’t
the headlines of the newspaper but daily news everyone come across whenever we go
through a newspaper or watching over a TV news. With the meteoric embedded systems
along with microprocessor preventing deaths and providing safe guided measures. By
advent of this system the world death rate may decrease to greater extent as large
percentage of death occur due to earthquake. The advantages of microwave signals are
fully utilized in this system. The L and S band microwaves are used here to detect the
living body.

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 CONTENTS

SI NO TOPIC PAGE NO

1 INTRODUCTION 9

2 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION 10

3 INTRODUCTION TO MICROWAVES 11

4 MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE CIRCUIT 12

5 CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION 14

6 WORKING OF LIFE DETECTION SYSTEM 18

7 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 24

8 CONCLUSION 27

9 REFERENCE 28

8
 INTRODUCTION

A new sensitive microwave life-detection system which

can be used to locate human subjects buried under earthquake rubble or hidden behind
various barriers has been constructed. By advent of this system the world death rate may
decrease to greater extent as large percentage of death occur due to earthquake. This
system operating at 1150 MHz or 450 MHz can detect the breathing and heartbeat signals
of human subjects through an earthquake rubble or a construction barrier of about 10-ft
thickness. Previous methods for searching and rescuing human victims buried under
earthquake rubble or collapsed building debris were the utilization of dogs, or seismic or
optical devices. These devices are not effective if the rubble or debris covering the human
victims is thicker than a few feet, especially for the case when the victims are completely
trapped or too weak to respond to the signal sent by the rescuers.

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 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

The basic physical principle for the operation of a

microwave life-detection system is rather simple. When a microwave beam of appropriate
frequency (L or S band) is aimed at a pile of earthquake rubble covering a human subject
or illuminated through a barrier obstructing a human subject, the microwave beam can
penetrate the rubble or the barrier to reach the human subject.When the human subject is
illuminated by a microwave beam, the reflected wave from the human subject will be
modulated by the subject’s body movements, which include the breathing and the
heartbeat. If the clutter consisting of the reflected wave from stationary background can be
completely eliminated and the reflected wave from the human subject’s body is properly
modulated, the breathing and heartbeat signals of the subject can be extracted.Thus, a
human subject buried under earthquake rubble or hidden behind barriers can be located.

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 INTRODUCTION TO MICROWAVES

Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with

wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or
equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz (0.3 GHz) and 300 GHz. This broad
definition includes both UHF and EHF (millimeter waves), and various sources use
different boundaries. In all cases, microwave includes the entire SHF band (3 to 30
GHz, or 10 to 1 cm) at minimum, with RF engineering often putting the lower
boundary at 1 GHz (30 cm), and the upper around 100 GHz (3mm). The advantages of
microwaves are ,

 Increased bandwidth availability (1 GHz-103 GHz).

 Improved directive properties.

 Transmitter /receiver power requirements are very low.

Figure 3.1:microwave region of electromagnetic spectrum

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 MAJOR COMPONENTS OF THE CIRCUIT

The microwave life detection system has four major components. They
are:

 A microwave circuit which generates, amplifies and distributes microwave

signals to different microwave components.
 A microwave controlled clutter cancellation system, which creates an optimal
signal to cancel the clutter from the rubble.
 A dual antenna system, which consists of two antennas, energized sequentially.
 A laptop computer which controls the microprocessor and acts as the monitor
for the output signal.

An electromagnetic wave of 450 MHz is difficult to penetrate layers of reinforced

concrete slabs with imbedded metallic wire of 4-in spacing. Through a series of
experiment, we selected the operating frequency of 1150 MHz for the second system with
the goal of penetrating such earthquake rubble. After the construction of the 450-MHz
and the 1150-MHz systems and an extensive series of experiments, we found that an EM
wave of 1150 MHz can penetrate a rubble with layers of reinforced concrete slabs with
metallic wire mesh easier than that of 450 MHz. However, an EMwave of 450 MHz may
penetrate deeper into a rubble without metallic wire mesh than that of 1150 MHz. The

12
basic circuit structures of the 450-MHz and the 1150-MHz microwave life-detection
systems are quite similar and they are operated based on the same physical principle.

1. BLOCK DIAGRAM

FIG.6.1 Schematic diagram of the 1150-MHz microwave life-detection system

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 CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION

The circuit description is as follows:

PHASE LOCKED OSCILLATOR:

A phase-shift oscillator is a simple electronic oscillator. It

contains an inverting amplifier, and a feedback filter which 'shifts' the phase of the
amplifier output by 180 degrees at a specific oscillation frequency. The filter produces a
phase shift that increases with frequency. It must have a maximum phase shift of
considerably greater than 180° at high frequencies, so that the phase shift at the desired
oscillation frequency is 180°. Here the phase locked oscillator generates a very stable
electromagnetic wave say 1150 MHz with output power say 400mW.

DIRECTIONAL COUPLER:

Directional couplers are four-port circuits where one port

is isolated from the input port. Directional couplers are passive reciprocal networks, which
you can read more about on our page on basic network theory. All four ports are (ideally)
matched, and the circuit is (ideally) lossless. A directional coupler has four ports, where
one is regarded as the input, one is regarded as the "through" port (where most of the
incident signal exits), one is regarded as the coupled port (where a fixed fraction of the
input signal appears, usually expressed in dB), and an isolated port, which is usually
terminated. If the signal is reversed so that it enter the "though" port, most of it exits the
"input" port, but the coupled port is now the port that was previously regarded as the
"isolated port". The coupled port is a function of which port is the incident port.
Waveguide couplers couple in the forward direction (forward-wave couplers); a signal
incident on port 1 will couple to port 3 (port 4 is isolated). Micro strip or strip line coupler
are "backward wave" couplers.

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 CIRCULATOR:

A circulator is a ferrite device (ferrite is a class of materials

with strange magnetic properties) with usually three ports. The beautiful thing about
circulators is that they are non-reciprocal. That is, energy into port 1 predominantly exits
port 2, energy into port 2 exits port 3, and energy into port 3 exits port 1. In a reciprocal
device the same fraction of energy that flows from port 1 to port 2 would occur to energy
flowing the opposite direction, from port 2 to port 1.

Fig7.3.1:CCW and CW circulators

The selection of ports is arbitrary, and circulators can

be made to "circulate" either clockwise (CW) or counter clockwise (CCW). A circulator is
sometimes called a "duplexer", meaning that is duplexes two signals into one channel (e.g.

15
transmit and receive into an antenna).In microwave life detection system there are two
antennas.The antenna can perform two functions simultaneously with the help of a
circulator, which separates the radiating EM wave from the received EM wave.

ANTENNA SYSTEM:

The dual antenna system has two antennas, which are

energized sequentially by an electronically controlled microwave single-pole double-throw
(SPDT) switch. The SPDT switch turns on and off at a frequency of 100 Hz which is much
higher than the frequency range of the breathing and heartbeat signals between 0.2 Hz and
3 Hz. Thus, we can consider that the two antennas essentially sample their respective
objects at the same time. In this dual-antenna system, the two antenna channels are
completely independent. Each antenna acts separately. We have designed and constructed
three types of antennas for the microwave life-detection system. They are: 1) the reflector
antenna; 2) the patch antenna; and 3) the probe antenna. Each antenna simultaneously acts
as the radiating element and the receiving element. It radiates EM wave through the
earthquake rubble to reach the trapped human subjects and at the same time it receives the
reflected EM wave from the rubble and the human subjects.

REFLECTOR ANTENNA:

The reflector antenna was constructed with two

aluminium plates as the reflectors and an adjustable dipole antenna as the driving element.
The two aluminum plates with the dimensions of 21 in × 11in form a corner reflector with
the dipole antenna as its primary radiator. The angle between the two aluminium plates is
adjustable and they are folded together when it is not used. The dipole antenna is a
conventional, half- wavelength electric dipole. The reflector antenna is a simple,
lightweight, and ragged structure and it performs very well in the most of situations. The
gain of the reflector antenna is difficult to define and measure because the antenna is
placed directly over a rubble pile and the scattered field of the antenna is strongly
dependent on the nature of the rubble material.

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PATCH ANTENNA:

A patch antenna was constructed for radiating and

receiving EM wave for the microwave life-detection system. The patch antenna consists of
an aluminum ground plane, which is supported by four legs and a strip plate of about a
half- wavelength,which is attached to the ground plane and fed by a coaxial line.The strip
plate is insulated from the ground plane. The coaxial cable is attached to the ground plane
through a connector.The performance of the patch antenna is not better than that of the
reflector antenna. It only serves as alternative type of antenna and may be useful in some
situations.

PROBE ANTENNA:

A probe antenna was designed to insert through boreholes

or naturally occurring fissures into the earthquake rubble to seek for the trapped victims.
Physically, a probe antenna should have a cylindrical wire structure and its radius be kept
as small as possible.We have designed a probe antenna, which is essentially a sleeve
antenna, as shown in Fig. 7.4.3.1.

Fig.7.4.3.1.Probe antenna for the life-detection system.

The radiating element is a half-wavelength dipole, which

is loaded with an inductor at the center. The inductance of the inductor was determined
numerically in the design. One half of the dipole is connected to the center conductor of
the coaxial cable via the inductor. The other half of the dipole is a quarter wavelength
section of the outer surface of the coaxial cable. A quarter-wavelength choke, which is
cylindrical tubing of larger radius than that of the coaxial cable, is soldered to the coaxial
cable at one end and kept open at the other end. This choke is acting as a shorted, quarter-

17
wavelength transmission line, which provides very high input impedance at the end point
of the radiating dipole. Thus, this choke will stop the unbalanced current leaking to the
outer surface of the connecting cable. A parasitic element, a wire of slightly shorter than
half-wavelength, is placed next to the radiating dipole to increase the bandwidth of the
antenna. The selection of dimensions of the parasitic element was made empirically
through an experiment with a network analyzer. The whole structure of the probe antenna
is encased in rugged plastic tubing.

CLUTTER CANCELLATION SYSTEM:

The clutter cancellation unit consists of

1. A digitally controlled phase shifter

2. A fixed attenuator
3. A RF amplifier
4. A digitally controlled attenuator.

WORKING OF LIFE DETECTION SYSTEM

The schematic diagram of the 1150-MHz

microwave life-detection system is shown in Fig. 6.1. A phase-locked oscillator generates
a very stable EMwave at 1150 MHz with an output power of 400mW(25.6 dBm). This
wave is fed through a 10-dB directional coupler and a circulator before reaching a radio-
frequency (RF) switch, which energized the dual antenna system sequentially. The 10-dB
directional coupler branches out one-tenth of the wave (40 mW) which is then divided
equally by a 3-dB directional coupler. One output of the 3-dB directional coupler (20 mW)
drives the clutter cancellation circuit and the other output(20 mW) serves as a local
reference signal for the double-balanced mixer.

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CLUTTER CANCELLATION OF THE RECEIVED SIGNAL:

The clutter cancellation circuit consists of a digitally

controlled phase-shifter (0–360 ), a fixed attenuator (4 dB), a RF amplifier (20 dB), and a
digitally controlled attenuator (0–30 dB). The output of the clutter cancellation circuit is
automatically adjusted to be of equal amplitude and opposite phase as that of the clutter
from the rubble. Thus, when the output of the clutter cancellation circuit is combined with
the received signal from the antenna, via the circulator, in a 3-dB directional coupler, the
large clutter from the rubble is completely canceled, and the output of the 3-dB directional
coupler consists only of the small reflected wave from the subjects body. This output of the
3-dB directional coupler is passed through a 6-dB directional coupler.

The 1/4 of this output is amplified by a RF preamplifier (30 dB) and then mixed with a
local reference signal in a double-balanced mixer. The other 3/4 of the output is detected by
a microwave detector to provide a dc voltage, which serves as the indicator for the degree
of the clutter cancellation. When the settings of the digitally controlled phase-shifter and
attenuator are swept by the microprocessor control system, the output of the microwave
detector varies accordingly. The minimum detector reading corresponds to the right
settings for the digitally controlled phase-shifter and attenuator. These settings will be fixed
for subsequent measurements.

MICROPROCESSOR CONTROL UNIT:

The algorithm and flowcharts for the antenna system and the clutter cancellation system
are as follows:

ANTENNA SYSTEM:

1. Initially the switch is kept in position 1 (signal is transmitted through the antenna1.

2. Wait for some predetermined sending time, Ts

3. Then the switch is thrown to position 2 (signal is received through the Antenna 2)

4. Wait for some predetermined receiving time, Tr

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5. Go to step 1

6. Repeat the above procedure for some predetermined time, T.

CLUTTER CANCELLATION SYSTEM:

1. Send the signal to the rubble through antenna 1.

2. Receive the signal from the rubble through antenna 2.

3. Check the detector output. If it is within the predetermined limits go to step 5.

4. Otherwise send the correction signal to the digitally controlled phase shifter 1 and
attenuator and go to step 1.

5. Check the sensitivity of the mixer. If the optimum go to step 7.

6. Otherwise send the correction signal to the digitally controlled phase shifter 2 to
change the phase and go to step 1.

7. Process the signal and send it to the laptop.

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FLOW CHART FOR ANTENNA SYSTEM

21
FLOW CHART FOR CLUTTER CANCELLATION SYSTEM

22
DEMODULATION OF THE CLUTTER CANCELLED SIGNAL:

 At the double balanced mixer, the amplified signal of the reflected wave from the
person’s body is mixed with the local reference signal.
 The phase of the local reference signal is controlled by another digitally
controlled phase shifter 2 for an optimal output from the mixer.
 The output of the mixer consists of the breathing and heartbeat signals of the
human plus some avoidable noise.
 This output is fed through a low frequency amplifier and a band pass filter (0.4
Hz) before displayed on the monitor.
 The function of the digitally controlled phase shifter 2 is to control the phase of
the local reference signal for the purpose of increasing the system sensitivity.
 The reflected signal from the person’s body after amplification by the pre-
amplifier is mixed with the local reference signal in a double balanced mixer.
 The output of the mixer consists of the breathing and heartbeat signals of the
human subject plus unavoidable noise.
 This output is fed through a low-frequency (LF) amplifier (20–40 dB) and a band
pass filter (0.1–4 Hz) before being displayed on the monitor of a laptop computer.

SYSTEM SENSITIVITY:

The function of a digitally controlled phase-shifter (0 – 180 )installed in front of the local
reference signal port of the double balanced mixer to control the phase of the local
reference signal for the purpose of increasing the system sensitivity is explained below.
As mentioned before, the reflected signal from the human subject after amplification by
the preamplifier is mixed with the local reference signal in the double-balanced-mixer.
The local reference signal is assumed to be ALcos(wt+θL) where AL and θL are the
amplitude and the phase, respectively. While the other input to the mixer, the

reflected signal from the human subject, is assumed to be AR cos(wt+θE+∆θ(t)) where AR

and θE are the amplitude and the phase, respectively, and ∆θ(t) is the phase modulation
due to the body movement of the human subject. “w” is the angular frequency and ”t” is

23
the time. When these two inputs are mixed in the double-balanced mixer, the output of
the mixer will be;ALARcos(θL-θE-∆θ(t)).
From this expression of the mixer output, it is easy to see that If ; (θL-
θE)=(n+1/2)π,n=0,1,2…….
the system has a maximum sensitivity; (1) and if ; (θL-θE)=±nπ,n=0,1,2…….
the system has a minimum sensitivity (2), ∆θ(t)) is usually a small phase angle
perturbation created by the body movement of the human subject.θE is the constant phase
associated with the reflected signal from the human subject and it cannot be changed.θ L is
the phase of the local reference signal and it can be controlled by the digitally controlled
phase shifter(0– 180).In the operation,the phase-shifter will automatically shift θL in such
a way that(θL-θE) is nearly (n+1/2)π to attain a maximum system sensitivity.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Fig9.1. Heartbeat signals measured by two-reflector antennas arranged symmetrically.

Both time- domain and FFT results are shown. The cross-correlation result of the two sets
of results shows two peaks representing the heartbeat frequency and its second harmonic.
The 1150 -MHz life-detection system was used.

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 Fig. 9.1 shows the heartbeat signals created by the artificial
heart and measured by reflector antenna A and reflector antenna B which were placed 7 ft
directly above the target. The time-domain results of both antennas show the heartbeat
signals contaminated by a large noise. Their FFT results also show the presence of a
strong noise with spread frequencies. However, when these two sets of signals were cross
correlated, a distinctive peak of the heartbeat signal at 0.8 Hz appeared. A second
distinctive peak at 1.6 Hz is the second harmonic of the heartbeat signal. It is also
observed that the noise measured by both antennas was drastically reduced. From this
cross-correlated result, the heartbeat signal was clearly detected.

Fig. 9.2 Heartbeat signals measured by a reflector antenna and a probe antenna. Both
time-domain and FFT results are shown. The cross-correlation result of the two sets of
results shows the heartbeat frequency and its second harmonic. The 1150-MHz life-
detection system was used.

Fig. 9.2 shows the heartbeat signals measured by

two different types of antennas. The reflector antenna A was placed 7 ft above the target
and the probe antenna B was inserted through the rubble to reach a point 3.5 ft from the
target. The time-domain signals measured by both antennas are shown. For this case the
FFT results of these two sets of signals both show a distinctive heartbeat signal and its
harmonics. When these two sets of signals are cross correlated, a more distinctive
heartbeat signal at 0.8 Hz and its second harmonic at 1.6 Hz are produced.

25
Fig 9.3. Heartbeat signals measured by two reflector antennas while a human operator
was walking near the rubble. Both time-domain and FFT results are shown. The cross-
correlation result of the two sets of results shows the heartbeat frequency and its
harmonic, while the interference signal created by the operator nearly disappear. The
1150-MHz life-detection system was used.

Fig. 9.3 shows the heartbeat signals measured by reflector antenna A and reflector
antenna B both placed 7 ft above the target when a human operator was walking near the
rubble, about 20 ft from the antenna. The walking human subject created a large
interference signal in the outputs of antenna A and antenna B showing both in their time-
domain results and the FFT results. When those two sets of signals were cross correlated,
the heartbeat signal of 0.8 Hz and its second harmonic of 1.6 Hz appeared while the
interference signal nearly disappeared. From this result, we can conclude that the dual-
antenna system of the 1150-MHz can be used to reduce the interference noise created by
the system operators moving near the rubble as well as the background noise.

26
 CONCLUSION

A new sensitive life-detection system using

microwave radiation for locating human subjects buried under earthquake rubble or
hidden behind various barriers has been constructed. This system operating at 1150 or
450 MHz can detect the breathing and heartbeat signals of human subjects through an
earthquake rubble or a construction barrier of about 10-ft thickness. The location of the
person under the rubble can be known by calculating the time lapse between the sending
time, Ts and receiving time, Tr. Since it will not be possible to continuously watch the
system under critical situations, an alarm system has been set, so that whenever the laptop
computer system processes the received signal and identifies that there is a human being,
the alarm sound starts. The possible shortcoming of this system is the effects of the
background noise created by the environment and operators. A sophisticated signal
processing scheme may further improve the system performance.

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 REFERENCE

1. www.ieee.org

2. www. wikipedia.org

3. www.microwaves101.com

4. Antenna theory,analysis and design : Constantine.A.Balanis

5. Microwave and Radar Engineering : M.Kulkarni

6. Electronic Communication Systems : George Kennady and Bernard Davis

7. K. M. Chen, Y. Huang, A. Norman, and J. Zhang, “Microwave life-detection

system for detecting human subjects through barriers,” in Proc. Progress in
Electromagnetic Research Symp., Hong Kong.

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 DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
GOVERNMENT POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE, PALAKKAD

PROGRAMME EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

1. Our Electronics diploma professional can take up the middle level responsibilities in
manufacturing and advanced technology industries with his acquired knowledge and skills.

2. Our Electronics diploma engineers will be able to apply their professional and personal
excellence to help supporting social development.

3. They will be able to expand the knowledge base through higher studies and update on
technology leading to career growth.

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