STAR: FMCW Radar for Wildlife Vital Sign Monitoring
Signal Processing
Fourier Transformations
MATLAB
FMCW Tech
STAR (Surveillance and Tracking using Advanced Radar) leverages mmWave FMCW radar to track respiration and heartbeat signatures of wildlife remotely, even under challenging weather and visibility conditions.
Objective
Guided a sensing platform that protects wildlife by replacing invasive collars and tags with remote vital sign monitoring, expanding coverage area, and improving reliability over conventional camera traps.
Technology Stack
- Texas Instruments IWR6843AOPEVM hardware operating across mmWave bands.
- MATLAB processing chains for Fourier-based extraction of respiration and heartbeat frequencies.
- Signal conditioning pipelines tuned for motion tracking, contour detection, and area scanning.
Key Features
- Non-contact vital sign estimation using FMCW radar reflections.
- Wide-area coverage enabling simultaneous detection of multiple subjects.
- All-weather operation that avoids the limitations of optical systems.
- Real-time signal analysis to flag unusual activity and potential poaching events.
Impact
STAR demonstrates the potential of radar-based sensing for conservation, providing forestry teams with a scalable, passive system to monitor animal health and movement without disturbing their natural behavior.