Radar-based monitoring of the worker activities by exploiting range-doppler and micro-doppler signatures

Long-term sedentary behavior severely increases the risk of developing diseases and syndromes. Cardiovascular and skeletal muscle issues, higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels are among this long list of consequences. Although a great effort was devoted to fight sedentary behaviors by means of public health strategies and the employment of wearable devices, an effective and flexible technology enabling reliable worker monitoring still does not exist. This contribution is aimed to provide an advanced solution based on microwave radars for monitoring the sitting time and recognizing a worker's proper physical activities. The adoption of the radar technology is required to provide the unobtrusive wellness sensing while enabling advanced activity and vital signs monitoring. The proposed radar sensor is able to monitor the worker's breathing activity during his worktime and track his position by preserving the individual privacy in a safe and cost-effective way. Moreover, by exploiting the human micro-Doppler signature, it recognizes different activities such as standing up, sitting down and physical exercise. The basic principles of the radar sensing and processing in health care are illustrated whereas the detection of different activities is experimentally demonstrated, highlighting the potential and the advanced features of the proposed solution.