Patent ID: 8781563

Claim:
Apparatus for monitoring vital signs of one or more living subjects, the apparatus comprising: a monitoring station; at least one sensor in communication with the monitoring station, the sensor comprising: an antenna system; an ultra wideband radar system coupled to the antenna system; a signal processor connected to receive a signal from the ultra wideband radar system and configured to extract from the signal information about one or more vital signs of a living subject in a sensing volume corresponding to the antenna system; and a communication system configured to transmit the information to the monitoring station; wherein the antenna system comprises one or more groups of antennas and each group of antennas comprises: a transmit antenna connected to transmit ultra wideband pulses generated by the ultra wideband radar system; and a plurality of receive antennas spaced apart from the transmit antenna and connected to receive ultra wideband pulses reflected by the living subject; and wherein, for each group of antennas, the plurality of receive antennas have higher gains than the transmit antenna; and wherein the antenna system comprises a generally planar substrate and at least one antenna that comprises a first element on a first side of the substrate and a second element on a second side of the substrate opposed to the first side, wherein each of the first and second elements are symmetrical about a centre line.