Article Impact Level: HIGH Data Quality: STRONG Summary of Scientific Reports, 15(1), 1392. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80062-5 Ali Gharamohammadi et al.
Points
- Researchers at the University of Waterloo created a radar-based system embedded in furniture to monitor heart health without physical contact. The system uses millimeter-wave radar to detect ECG-like cardiac waveform patterns.
- The system achieves a heart rate error of just 4.8 percent and detects interbeat intervals with high precision, enabling accurate, non-invasive tracking of heart rate variability and cardiac anomalies.
- Thanks to AI-powered filtering, it successfully identifies prolonged QT intervals, a known risk factor for cardiac events, by isolating heart signals even in the presence of body movement and breathing.
- Unlike wearables, this technology works passively and privately without requiring user interaction, making it highly suitable for continuous cardiac monitoring in homes, vehicles, or public settings.
- Researchers plan to enhance predictive capabilities with AI and expand testing across diverse cardiovascular conditions, aiming for cost-effective, scalable deployment in smart environments for early cardiac risk detection.
Summary
A team of researchers at the University of Waterloo developed an innovative radar-based system for cardiac health monitoring integrated into smart furniture. Unlike conventional wearables, which require user action and can raise privacy concerns, this system employs millimeter-wave radar to detect cardiac activity without physical contact. The radar sensor, strategically placed behind a seat, uses an advanced algorithm to identify cardiac waveform patterns that match the Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal, characterized by two peaks followed by a valley in each cycle. This method enables precise heart rate variability (HRV) monitoring and provides a continuous, non-invasive approach to detect cardiac anomalies. The system shows an average relative error of 4.8% in heart rate estimation and a maximum interbeat interval (IBI) error of 30 milliseconds, with the capacity to identify variations in heart patterns, particularly in individuals with prolonged corrected QT intervals (QTc).
The radar system’s ability to detect abnormalities in heart patterns is crucial, as prolonged QTc intervals are associated with an increased risk of serious cardiac events, such as heart attacks. In their study, the team demonstrated that the radar system accurately captured heart signatures, making it a potential early warning tool for cardiac risks. With AI-enhanced algorithms, the system filters out interference from breathing and body movements to isolate clear heart signals, achieving results comparable to a medical-grade ECG. This capability enables continuous monitoring without requiring users to participate actively, a significant advantage over traditional wearable devices.
Researchers are working towards refining the system by integrating AI for better predictive power and expanding tests to include individuals with various cardiovascular conditions. The radar system’s privacy-preserving, unobtrusive nature and high accuracy make it a promising technology for widespread use in smart homes and vehicles. This system could offer an innovative approach to detecting cardiac problems early, potentially improving patient outcomes while being cost-effective and scalable for future implementation.
Link to the article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-80062-5
References Gharamohammadi, A., Bagheri, M. O., Abu-Sardanah, S., Riad, M. M. Y. R., Abedi, H., Ansariyan, A., Wang, K., Saragadam, A., Chumachenko, D., Abhari, S., Morita, P. P., Khajepour, A., & Shaker, G. (2025). Smart furniture using radar technology for cardiac health monitoring. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 1392. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80062-5
