Health and wellness monitoring is a primary way to manage personal health and awareness for a healthy lifestyle. Many wearable activity tracking devices, smart watches, and smartphone applications collect and analyze data from bodily sources. Other types of devices used to monitor vital signs can help the wearer manage health issues but can limit the wearer’s mobility or cause discomfort if worn continuously.
These restrictions have prompted a growing interest in developing noncontact, wireless devices to detect vital signs, especially for people who are unconscious, sleeping, very young, elderly, or infirm. This article explains why 24 GHz Doppler radar sensors are useful for such devices and highlights some of the features suitable for meeting these applications.