Survivor search radar system for persons trapped under earthquake rubble

Abstract

A survivor search radar system that employs 1.2 GHz band microwaves to search for survivors that have been trapped beneath collapsed buildings or rubble after an earthquake has been developed. Since microwaves can pass through the walls, rubble and other such obstacles, they can be used to detect the breathing and other slight movements of persons who have survived the disaster, even if they are buried under rubble. The performance of this survivor search radar was confirmed by experiments using models of collapsed buildings. We further developed a radar survivor search system that employs pulse Doppler radar, which can measure the breathing of survivors and the distance to them. Experiments with a prototype of that system demonstrated its ability to detect the presence of survivors and determine their location.