Ultra-Wideband Microwave Cardiac Output Monitoring: Approaches to Modeling the Heart at Microwave Frequencies and Validation of a Proof of Concept System
Abstract
Cardiac output is an important hemodynamic parameter in critical care and has
proven difficult to measure accurately, non-invasively, and without a highly skilled
operator. Microwave technologies have been shown to be a possible alternative to
current methods for cardiac output determination. However, previously reported
microwave systems had limitations including low signal change over the cardiac cycle.
In this thesis, we specifically address improving signal change over the cardiac cycle by
introducing an ultra-wideband transmission system. We characterize the system using
heart models and show that wave propagation through the chest is complex, making
the system sensitive to antenna placement. Additionally, a semi-dynamic heart model
for characterization of the system in hardware and in simulation is developed. This
model shows comparable performance to a complex MRI based heart model. On a
human test subject, ultra-wideband readings showed up to 6 dB of magnitude variation over the cardiac cycle.
Description
Keywords
Engineering--Biomedical, Engineering--Electronics and Electrical
Citation
Seguin, M. (2015). Ultra-Wideband Microwave Cardiac Output Monitoring: Approaches to Modeling the Heart at Microwave Frequencies and Validation of a Proof of Concept System (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28549