HERMA—heartbeat microwave authentication
Systems and methods for identifying and/or authenticating individuals utilizing microwave sensing modules are disclosed. A HEaRtbeat Microwave Authentication (HERMA) system can enable the active identification and/or authentication of a user by analyzing reflected RF signals that contain a person's unique characteristics related to their heartbeats. An illumination signal is transmitted towards a person where a reflected signal captures the motion of the skin and tissue (i.e. displacement) due to the person's heartbeats. The HERMA system can utilize existing transmitters in a mobile device (e.g. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellphone signals) as the illumination source with at least one external receive antenna. The received reflected signals can be pre-processed and analyzed to identify and/or authenticate a user.
1. A microwave sensor module for authenticating a person using data related to the person's heartbeat, comprising:
at least one transmitter configured to transmit a continuous wave (CW) radio frequency (RF) signal;
at least one receiver configured to receive a reflected microwave signal from a person that contains information related to the person's heartbeat;
a processor;
a memory containing an authentication application, wherein the authentication application configures the processor to:
receive a portion of the transmitted RF signal using the at least one receiver, wherein the received portion of the transmitted RF signal is utilized as a reference for coherent detection;
extract heartbeat data from the reflected signal related to displacement as a result of the person's heartbeat;
compare the extracted heartbeat data against at least one template profile; and
authenticate the person based upon the comparison of the extracted heartbeat data and the at least one template profile.
2. The microwave sensor module of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transmitter is built in to a mobile device.
3. The microwave sensor module of claim 2 , wherein the transmitted RF signal is a Bluetooth signal.
4. The microwave sensor module of claim 2 , wherein the transmitted RF signal is a WI-FI signal.
5. The microwave sensor module of claim 2 , wherein the transmitted RF signal is a cellular phone signal.
6. The microwave sensor module of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transmitter is built in to an external illumination source.
7. The microwave sensor module of claim 1 , wherein a smoothed differentiator pre-filter is utilized to enhance the heartbeat data.
8. A microwave sensor module for authenticating a person using data related to the person's heartbeat, comprising:
at least one transmitter configured to transmit a continuous wave (CW) radio frequency (RF) signal;
at least one receiver configured to receive a reflected microwave signal from a person that contains information related to the person's heartbeat;
a processor;
a memory containing an authentication application, wherein the authentication application configures the processor to:
extract heartbeat data from the reflected signal related to displacement as a result of the person's heartbeat;
compare the extracted heartbeat data against at least one template profile; and
authenticate the person based upon the comparison of the extracted heartbeat data and the at least one template profile;
wherein the authentication application further configures the processor to extract heartbeat data from the reflected signal by:
extracting raw data from the reflected signal by constructing an I/Q radar returns matrix and I/Q time series waveforms;
bandpass filtering the I/Q time series waveforms to remove effects due to respiration and to isolate heartbeat only I/Q time series waveforms;
translating and rotating the heartbeat only I/Q time series waveforms to lie along the Q-axis, where a scaled imaginary part yields heartbeat displacement waveforms;
segmenting the heartbeat displacement waveforms into non-overlapping data windows (DW) of a fixed duration; and
removing anomalous DW from the data set, where anomalous DW include any DW whose root mean square or maximum absolute value is outside of a specified interval.
9. The microwave sensor module of claim 8 , wherein the authentication application further configures the processor to extract heartbeat data from the reflected signal by:
smoothing the I/Q time series waveforms to mitigate against outlier data points caused by motion artifacts;
removing affine trends from the I/Q time series waveforms to mitigate against stationary clutter effects; and
removing affine trends from the heartbeat only I/Q time series waveforms to remove residual clutter effects.
10. A method of authenticating a person using data related to the person's heartbeat, the method comprising:
transmitting a continuous wave (CW) radio frequency (RF) signal using at least one transmitter;
receiving a portion of the transmitted RF signal using at least one receiver, wherein the received portion of the transmitted RF signal is utilized as a reference for coherent detection;
receiving a reflected microwave signal from a person using the at least one receiver, where the reflected signal contains information related to the person's heartbeat;
extracting heartbeat data from the reflected signal, where the heartbeat data is related to displacement as a result of the person's heartbeat;
comparing the extracted heartbeat data against at least one template profile; and
authenticating the person based upon the comparison of the extracted heartbeat data and the at least one template profile.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one transmitter is built in to a mobile device.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the transmitted RF signal is a Bluetooth signal.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the transmitted RF signal is a WI-FI signal.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the transmitted RF signal is a cellular phone signal.
15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one transmitter is built in to an external illumination source.
16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the extracting heartbeat data from the reflected signal comprises:
extracting raw data from the reflected signal by constructing an I/Q radar returns matrix and I/Q time series waveforms;
bandpass filtering the I/Q time series waveforms to remove effects due to respiration and to isolate heartbeat only I/Q time series waveforms;
translating and rotating the heartbeat only I/Q time series waveforms to lie along the Q-axis, where a scaled imaginary part yields heartbeat displacement waveforms;
segmenting the heartbeat displacement waveforms into non-overlapping data windows (DW) of a fixed duration; and
removing anomalous DW from the data set, where anomalous DW include any DW whose root mean square or maximum absolute value is outside of a specified interval.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the extracting heartbeat data from the reflected signal further comprises:
smoothing the I/Q time series waveforms to mitigate against outlier data points caused by motion artifacts;
removing affine trends from the I/Q time series waveforms to mitigate against stationary clutter effects; and
removing affine trends from the heartbeat only I/Q time series waveforms to remove residual clutter effects.
18. The method of claim 10 , wherein a smoothed differentiator pre-filter is utilized to enhance the heartbeat data.
19. A microwave sensor module for authenticating a person using data related to the person's heartbeat, comprising:
at least one transmitter configured to transmit a continuous wave (CW) radio frequency (RF) signal;
at least one receiver configured to receive a reflected microwave signal from a person that contains information related to the person's heartbeat;
a processor;
a memory containing an authentication application, wherein the authentication application configures the processor to:
receive a portion of the transmitted RF signal using the at least one receiver, wherein the received portion of the transmitted RF signal is utilized for noise cancellation;
extract heartbeat data from the reflected signal related to displacement as a result of the person's heartbeat;
compare the extracted heartbeat data against at least one template profile; and
authenticate the person based upon the comparison of the extracted heartbeat data and the at least one template profile.
20. The microwave sensor module of claim 19 , wherein the at least one transmitter is built in to a mobile device.
21. The microwave sensor module of claim 19 , wherein the at least one transmitter is built in to an external illumination source.
22. A method of authenticating a person using data related to the person's heartbeat, the method comprising:
transmitting a continuous wave (CW) radio frequency (RF) signal using at least one transmitter;
receiving a portion of the transmitted RF signal using at least one receiver, wherein the received portion of the transmitted RF signal is utilized for noise cancellation;
receiving a reflected microwave signal from a person using the at least one receiver, where the reflected signal contains information related to the person's heartbeat;
extracting heartbeat data from the reflected signal, where the heartbeat data is related to displacement as a result of the person's heartbeat;
comparing the extracted heartbeat data against at least one template profile; and
authenticating the person based upon the comparison of the extracted heartbeat data and the at least one template profile.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the at least one transmitter is built in to a mobile device.
24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the at least one transmitter is built in to an external illumination source.