A FREQUENCY-MODULATED CONTINUOUS WAVE-BASED BOUNDARY DETECTION SYSTEM IN A SMALL PCB PROFILE

• Main Author: Asgarian, Hamid R
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@CalPoly 2012
• Subjects: ultra-wideband; UWB; FMCW; monitoring system; boundary detection; falls
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/921; https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1973&context=theses

Falls are a cause of concern for the elderly because it can make them unable to call for help. A monitoring system can detect automatically their immobility and provide help to the elderly if they fall. Ultra-wide band signals for a monitoring system is an excellent choice since it has low enough power to not interfere with other medical and household electronics as well as being able to transmit data to a central monitoring unit. One part of this monitoring system is a boundary detection system used to verify that the monitoring system is not capturing events outside the monitoring region such as an event outside the house or in a neighboring room. The work presented in the paper, “A Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave-Based Boundary Detection System for Determination of Monitoring Region for an Indoor Ultra-Wideband Short Range Radar-Based Eldercare Monitoring System” has determined that a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) based system is an acceptable solution for boundary detection. A FMCW system can measure distance with less than 10cm accuracy if the chosen spectrum bandwidth is 1GHz or more. This thesis presents the design of a low cost approach to small PCB footprint distance detection circuitry for the boundary detection system.