A new sensitive microwave life-detection system which can be used to locate human subjects buried under earthquake rubble or hidden behind various barriers has been constructed. This system operating at 1150 MHz or 450 MHz can detect the breathing and heartbeat signals of human subjects through earthquake rubble or a construction barrier of about 10-ft thickness.
INTRODUCTION
Existing methods for searching and rescuing human victims buried under earthquake rubble or collapsed building debris is the utilization of dogs, or seismic or optical devices. These existing devices are not effective if the rubble or debris covering the human victims is thicker than a few feet, especially for the case when the victims are completely trapped or too weak to respond to the signal sent by the rescuers. Thus, there is great demand for constructing a new sensitive life-detect-tion system which can be used to locate human victims trapped deep under earthquake rubble or collapsed building debris. Especially, the system needs to be sensitive enough to detect the breathing and heartbeat signals of passive victims who are completely trapped or too weak to respond to the existing seismic detection system. This paper has constructed a sensitive life-detection system for such purposes using microwave radiation
