Non-invasive Diver Respiration Rate Monitoring in Hyperbaric Lifeboat Environments using Short-Range Radar

Abstract

The monitoring of diver health during emergency events is crucial to ensuring the safety of personnel. A non-invasive system continuously providing a measure of the respiration rate of individual divers is exceedingly beneficial in this context. The paper reports on the application of short-range radar to record the respiration rate of divers within hyperbaric lifeboat environments. Results demonstrate that the respiratory motion can be extracted from the radar return signal applying routine signal processing. Further, evidence is provided that the radar-based approach yields a more accurate measure of respiration rate than an audio signal from a headset microphone. The system promotes an improvement in evacuation protocols under critical operational scenarios.