In post-disaster collapse environments, the rapid localization of trapped victims is considered crucial to successful rescue operations. IR-UWB (impulse radio ultra-wideband) radar, which is capable of penetrating non-magnetic materials and detecting weak vital signs, is regarded as having significant potential for search-and-rescue applications in disaster scenarios. First, the principles of life detection using IR-UWB radar and its system architecture were introduced. Key hardware technologies, including pulse generation, antenna radiation, and receiver sampling, were analyzed in detail, along with the current status of signal processing methods such as clutter suppression, signal amplification, and vital-sign extraction. Existing shortcomings in rescue applications were then identified, including hardware issues such as low pulse signal amplitude, limited antenna gain bandwidth, and high power consumption, as well as signal processing limitations such as insufficient clutter suppression performance, simplistic signal recognition methods, and low target localization accuracy. Finally, future development directions of IR-UWB radar for disaster emergency rescue were proposed. Hardware performance was expected to be improved through the integration of technologies such as charge pumps, strained silicon, and reflectors, echo propagation models in catastrophic media are to be established, deep learning techniques are to be introduced to enhance the accuracy of vital-sign recognition and localization, and cognitive radar approaches are to be applied to improve adaptability in complex environments.
ZHENG Xue-zhao, LI Qiang, HUANG Yuan, DING Wen, MA Yang.
Research Status and Development Trends of Key Technologies for Life Detection Using Pulsed Ultra-wideband Radar[J].
Science Technology and Engineering, 2026, 26(14): 5788-5805 DOI:10.12404/j.issn.1671-1815.2503034
因雷达设备的不稳定性、不规则障碍物的强反射遮挡(碎屑、砾石等)和高介电传播损耗,导致波信号存在杂波、噪声并使目标生命信号衰弱,构成低信噪杂比(signal to noise and clutter ratio,SNCR)的探测环境[46]。需要在生命信号识别提取前进行预处理,抑制或去除杂波与噪声,对于杂波抑制后得到的目标回波,信号幅值相对较弱,还需要适当的信号增益,提升信号的信噪杂比。
Liang等[47]将杂波抑制分为三部分,使用时间均值减法(time mean subtraction,TMS)与距离轮廓减法(range profile subtraction,RPS)相结合并引入加权系数去除静态杂波,线性趋势相减法(linear trend subtraction,LTS)消除线性趋势,奇异值分解方法(singular value decomposition,SVD)去除动态非线性杂波,再用巴特沃斯滤波器与平均滤波器进一步去除剩余杂波与噪声。Shikhsarmast等[48]对回波信号采用TMS去除静态杂波,LTS去除线性趋势,此外回波中还存在一部分高频与低频的杂波与噪声,使用二阶巴特沃斯滤波器去除。对于类似呼吸作用的杂波,上述算法存在一定局限性,Li等[49]研制新型双频脉冲IR-UWB雷达,其原理为,400 MHz雷达可探在穿透墙壁与碎石后检测到呼吸信号,270 MHz雷达对呼吸信号不敏感,通过参考270 MHz雷达探测的杂波来对比消除400 MHz雷达中的杂波;Liang等[50]提出了一种基于低秩块稀疏表示的杂波噪声处理算法,对回波信号去除线性趋势与静态杂波后,把回波信号在时域上分为低秩(包含噪声)和块稀疏信号(包含生命信号),在去除噪声的同时,减小对生命信号的弱化,该方法核心是利用增广拉格朗日乘子法得到生命信号的块稀疏分量,后续还可以在频域上使用其他方法进一步改善回波信号。
自动增益控制法(automatic gain control method,AGC)在生命探测领域中应用较多,该方法的关键参数为,滑动窗口w和最大增益gmax,该参数设置需要根据探测环境做出动态调整。Rovňaková等[51]取w=3.3 ns,gmax=100,在室外与室内做对比实验,结果显示,在室内环境杂波信号被抑制,生命信号得到增强,室外环境下生命信号被衰减,比生命信号更微弱的杂波得到增强。Li等[52]采用AGC对慢时间方向的微弱生命体征信号进行增强,并根据所选时间窗口内的能量计算相应的增益系数,从而实现自适应控制。Liang等[53]采用归一化方法,将整个信号区间分段并根据多阶最大值进行归一化处理,以突出被大幅度信号掩盖的生命信息,初步增益后,再使用AGC对生命信号进行进一步增强。各类生命信号预处理算法的机理以及优缺点对比如表4所示。不同预处理算法在适用场景、鲁棒性及计算复杂度等方面各具特点,实际应用中通常采用多种算法的组合方式,以实现对杂波噪声抑制和生命信号有效增强。
空间谱估计也是近年来信号处理领域常用技术,由于心跳和呼吸的信号空间与噪声信号空间正交,因此可以采用多重信号分类(multiple signal classification,MUSIC)算法进行谱估计[56],Huo等[57]采用Toeplitz算法、Pisarenko分解技术与MUSIC相结合,突出功率谱中的多个有效峰,并衰减来自错误峰的干扰,实现同距离多目标提取,确定目标数量与距离后,采样梳状滤波和相干积分相结合方法识别提取心跳信号,选择其中多个周期进行相干积分,在多目标情况下,平均RR误差为3.98%,平均HR误差为4.57%。Wang等[58]利用最大后验、期望最大化算法和灰狼优化算法相结合,最大后验作为目标函数,通过灰狼算法进行优化,期望最大化算法迭代提取过程中的超参数,从而实现呼吸心跳生命信号的频率和幅度的自动提取,该方案的平均心率(HR)准确率达到93.57%,平均呼吸频率(RR)准确率达到95.84%。呼吸心跳信号提取其他有效的方法还有集成经验模态分解[46]、熵谱估计[59]、高阶累积量[60]、卷积稀疏编码[61]等。
在静止目标探测中,目标位置相对固定,回波较为稳定,主要通过时间差(time of arrival,TOA)测量和信号强度分析实现人员定位[71]。Švecová等[72]采用一个发射4个接收的天线阵列(图9),将发射天线和接收天线之间的TOA定义为椭圆,椭圆的交点为目标位置,目标的三维定位分解为两个二维,先估算目标在xy平面上的位置,再结合z轴的估算,实现穿楼板人员三维定位。
Zhang等[73]采用一发三收可伸缩式天线布局结构提升雷达方位分辨率,删减均值水平检测恒虚警率粗略计算TOA距离,多通道信号皮尔逊相关系数(>0.8判定同一目标)确定目标数量,椭圆-双曲线几何联立(time-of-arrival back projection localization,TOA-BP)算法(图10)实现全自动二维定位,但探测范围近,仅为穿28 cm砖墙后探测6 m。
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