Disaster Recovery and Through Rubble Detection by Means of Quasi-Real Time UWB Multilateration Reconstruction

Abstract: This paper presents a quasi-real time UWB image reconstruction method capable of detecting minute movements of victims trapped under rubble, including respiration movements. The approach is based on multi-static measurements of a C-shaped sensor array scanner arranged for a limited view imaging geometry where data is repetitively and continuously collected over small time intervals. Reconstruction is based on a multi-static multilateration method which correlates the movements captured by subtracting successive signals obtained from each transmitter-receiver pair into a point on the image, without the need of wall parameter estimations or priori information. Images processing requires 0.36 seconds on a standard desktop PC, offering nearly 3 frames/sec. Results based on several numerical experiments of varying complexity are presented and discussed. DOI: 10.1109/APACE.2016.7916460