Advancing Remote Life Sensing for Search and Rescue: A Novel Framework for Precise Vital Signs Detection via Airborne UWB Radar

Jing, Yu; Yan, Yili; Li, Zhao; Qi, Fugui; Lei, Tao; Wang, Jianqi; Lu, Guohua

doi:10.3390/s25175232

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Open AccessArticle

Advancing Remote Life Sensing for Search and Rescue: A Novel Framework for Precise Vital Signs Detection via Airborne UWB Radar

by

Yu Jing

^†,

Yili Yan

^†,

Zhao Li

,

Fugui Qi

,

Tao Lei

,

Jianqi Wang

and

Guohua Lu

^*

Department of Military Biomedical Engineering, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Sensors 2025, 25(17), 5232; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25175232

Submission received: 17 June 2025 / Revised: 25 July 2025 / Accepted: 20 August 2025 / Published: 22 August 2025

(This article belongs to the Topic Advanced Technologies and Applications for Unmanned Systems)

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Abstract

Non-contact vital signs detection of the survivors based on bio-radar to identify their life states is significant for field search and rescue. However, when transportation is interrupted, rescue workers and equipment are unable to arrive at the disaster area promptly. In this paper, we report a hovering airborne radar for non-contact vital signs detection to overcome this challenge. The airborne radar system supports a wireless data link, enabling remote control and communication over distances of up to 3 km. In addition, a novel framework based on blind source separation is proposed for vital signals extraction. First, range migration caused by the platform motion is compensated for by the envelope alignment. Then, the respiratory waveform of the human target is extracted by the joint approximative diagonalization of eigenmatrices algorithm. Finally, the heartbeat signal is recovered by respiratory harmonic suppression through a feedback notch filter. The field experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of precisely extracting vital signals with outstanding robustness and adaptation in more cluttered environments. The work provides a technical basis for remote high-resolution vital signs detection to meet the increasing demands of actual rescue applications.

Keywords: airborne radar; vital signs detection; remote sensing; search and rescue

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MDPI and ACS Style

Jing, Y.; Yan, Y.; Li, Z.; Qi, F.; Lei, T.; Wang, J.; Lu, G. Advancing Remote Life Sensing for Search and Rescue: A Novel Framework for Precise Vital Signs Detection via Airborne UWB Radar. Sensors 2025, 25, 5232. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25175232

AMA Style

Jing Y, Yan Y, Li Z, Qi F, Lei T, Wang J, Lu G. Advancing Remote Life Sensing for Search and Rescue: A Novel Framework for Precise Vital Signs Detection via Airborne UWB Radar. Sensors. 2025; 25(17):5232. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25175232

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jing, Yu, Yili Yan, Zhao Li, Fugui Qi, Tao Lei, Jianqi Wang, and Guohua Lu. 2025. "Advancing Remote Life Sensing for Search and Rescue: A Novel Framework for Precise Vital Signs Detection via Airborne UWB Radar" Sensors 25, no. 17: 5232. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25175232

APA Style

Jing, Y., Yan, Y., Li, Z., Qi, F., Lei, T., Wang, J., & Lu, G. (2025). Advancing Remote Life Sensing for Search and Rescue: A Novel Framework for Precise Vital Signs Detection via Airborne UWB Radar. Sensors, 25(17), 5232. https://doi.org/10.3390/s25175232

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Advancing Remote Life Sensing for Search and Rescue: A Novel Framework for Precise Vital Signs Detection via Airborne UWB Radar

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