Systems for radio wave based health monitoring that utilize amplitude and phase data

1. A system for monitoring a health parameter in a person, the system comprising:

a frequency synthesizer configured to generate radio waves across a range of stepped frequencies;

at least one transmit antenna configured to transmit the radio waves below the skin surface of a person;

a two-dimensional array of receive antennas configured to receive radio waves, the received radio waves including a reflected portion of the transmitted radio waves; and

processing circuits configured to generate data that includes amplitude and phase data in response to the received radio waves;

means for determining a value that corresponds to a health parameter of the person in response to the amplitude and phase data; and

means for isolating a signal from a particular location in the 3D space in response to receiving the radio waves on the multiple receive antennas by using beamforming to focus a receive beam on a particular blood vessel of the person.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transmit antenna and the two-dimensional array of receive antennas are configured for radio waves in a frequency range of 122-126 GHz.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a semiconductor substrate with at least one transmit component and a two-dimensional array of receive components, wherein the at least one transmit component is collocated with the at least one transmit antenna and the two-dimensional array of receive components are collocated with respective ones of the two-dimensional array of receive antennas.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one transmit component and the at least one transmit antenna comprise at least two transmit components and at least two transmit antennas and wherein the multiple receive components and multiple receive antennas comprises at least four receive components and at least four receive antennas and wherein receive components and receive antennas are collocated at opposite sides or corners of the semiconductor substrate.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the at least two transmit antennas are configured to transmit radio waves at two different polarization orientations and wherein a first set of the at least four receive antennas is configured to receive radio waves at one of the at least two different polarization orientations and a second set of the at least four receive antennas is configured to receive radio waves at a different one of the at least two different polarization orientations.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the at least two transmit antennas are configured to transmit radio waves at orthogonal polarization orientations and wherein a first set of the at least four receive antennas is configured to receive radio waves at one of the orthogonal polarization orientations and a second set of the at least four receive antennas is configured to receive radio waves at the other of the orthogonal polarization orientations.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transmit antenna comprises at least two transmit antennas configured to transmit radio waves at orthogonal polarization orientations and wherein a first set of the receive antennas is configured to receive radio waves at one of the orthogonal polarization orientations and a second set of the receive antennas is configured to receive radio waves at the other of the orthogonal polarization orientations.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transmit antenna has footprint dimensions of no more than 1.3 mm×1.3 mm and the multiple receive antennas each have a footprint dimension of no more than 1.3 mm×1.3 mm.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the health parameter is a blood glucose level.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the health parameter is a blood pressure.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the health parameter is a heart rate.

12. The system of claim 1 , further comprising means for transmitting radio waves over a 3D space below the skin surface of a person by transmitting from a first transmit antenna and then from a second transmit antenna such that the first transmission does not overlap in time with the second transmission.

13. The system of claim 1 , further comprising means for isolating a signal from a particular location in the 3D space in response to receiving the radio waves on the multiple receive antennas by implementing beamforming signal processing.

14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising means for isolating a signal from a particular location in the 3D space in response to receiving the radio waves on the multiple receive antennas by using Doppler effect processing to isolate signals that correspond to relative movement.

15. The system of claim 1 , further comprising means for isolating a signal from a particular location in the 3D space in response to receiving the radio waves on the multiple receive antennas by using Doppler effect processing, including fast Fourier transform (FFT) processing, to isolate signals that correspond to relative movement.

16. The system of claim 1 , further comprising means for isolating a signal from a particular location in the 3D space in response to receiving the radio waves on the multiple receive antennas by implementing Kalman filters to smooth out noisy data.

17. The system of claim 1 , further comprising means for isolating a signal from a particular location in the 3D space in response to receiving the radio waves on the multiple receive antennas by digitally combining received signals from the multiple receive antennas.

18. The system of claim 1 , further comprising means for isolating a signal from a particular location in the 3D space in response to receiving the radio waves on the multiple receive antennas by discarding signals generated directly from the transmitted radio waves.

19. A system for monitoring a health parameter in a person, the system comprising:

a frequency synthesizer configured to generate radio waves across a range of stepped frequencies;

at least one transmit antenna configured to transmit the radio waves below the skin surface of a person;

a two-dimensional array of receive antennas configured to receive radio waves, the received radio waves including a reflected portion of the transmitted radio waves; and

processing circuits configured to generate data that includes amplitude and phase data in response to the received radio waves;

means for determining a value that corresponds to a health parameter of the person in response to the amplitude and phase data; and

means for isolating a signal from a particular location in the 3D space in response to receiving the radio waves on the multiple receive antennas by using beamforming to focus a receive beam on the basilic vein of the person.

20. A system for monitoring a health parameter in a person, the system comprising:

a frequency synthesizer configured to generate radio waves across a range of stepped frequencies;

at least one transmit antenna configured to transmit the radio waves below the skin surface of a person;

a two-dimensional array of receive antennas configured to receive radio waves, the received radio waves including a reflected portion of the transmitted radio waves; and

processing circuits configured to generate data that includes amplitude and phase data in response to the received radio waves;

means for determining a value that corresponds to a health parameter of the person in response to the amplitude and phase data; and

means for isolating a signal from a particular location in the 3D space in response to receiving the radio waves on the multiple receive antennas by using beamforming to focus a receive beam on the superficial vein of the person.