Abstract:
The hypertension or high blood pressure (BP) is a major health problem worldwide. As per
national health survey of Pakistan, the hypertension affects 18% of adults and 33% of adults
above 45 years old. Typically, the BP is monitored via upper arm blood pressure monitor,
however, such monitoring can’t be done continuously. To overcome this issue, a cuffless BP
monitor is proposed that can be used to continuously monitor BP. This will be achieved via
advancements in millimeter-Wave (mm-Wave) Radar technology which employ 60 GHz
frequency to detect the vital signs of a human’s body.Current techniques of Blood Pressure
monitoring include non-continuous/cuffed or invasive methods which result in inconvenience
and inaccuracy in measurements. Our objective is to provide convenient means of BP
measurement for patients for whom invasive techniques pose problems.
The proposed design consists of a mm-Wave radar operating at 60 GHz which is able to
detect minute changes in the arterial pulse pressure, when located at a fixed distance from the
wrist position. To measure BP using mm-Wave radar sensor, the sensor is placed on the skin
overlying an artery, typically the radial artery in the wrist. The sensor emits low-power
millimeter-wave signals, which penetrate the skin and tissue and interact with the arterial
wall. The reflected signal from the arterial wall is then received by the sensor and processed
to extract the motion of the arterial wall. This motion is then used to estimate BP.The
proposed research has shown promising results in terms of measurement of BP through mm wave radar sensors by comparing data of samples with traditional techniques with a
difference of aprx. 10.74% and 2.8% and may pave way for future improvements in the
advancing field of use of mm-wave sensors for health applications.
