Experimental investigation into radar-based central blood pressure estimation
Solberg, Lars Erik; Aardal, Øyvind; Berger, Tor; Balasingham, Ilangko; Fosse, Erik; Hamran, Svein-Erik
Abstract
To assess whether radar technology can be used for monitoring blood pressure via information from the aorta, two
experiments were performed: (i) measurements on a phantom model and (ii) acquisitions on a human subject for in vivo
experiments. A linear dependency of phase on radius in the radar echoes in the phantom model showed that the information
regarding the radius of a circular, cylindrical object depended on the clutter environment: in a low-clutter case two distinct reflections
were identified, whereas in the high-clutter case it was possible to extract a proxy. Radar echoes from antennas strapped to the back
of a human subject showed a clear signature from a discernible, distinct reflector believed to be the aorta. However, as for the highclutter
case, only a proxy for aortic radius is available as basis for estimation, which is most likely coupled with aortic displacements.