Detection technology for trapped and buried people

In this contribution we discuss the first results of a running project1, I-LOV, within the German national research program for civil security funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) concerning improved time efficiency and reliable novel detection systems for search and rescue. Classical detection technology covers borescopes and geophones in combination with K-9 units for search and rescue missions in ruins, detritus and cones of debris. An improved and time efficient approach for search of vital signs can be realised with UWB (ultra wide band) radar systems, where a very short wide band pulse is transmitted, or with continuous wave (CW) radar systems for measuring movements like respiration. An improvement of CW with a frequency modulation (FM) leads to FMCW radar systems allowing measuring the distance to targets, i.e. buried people. The search for people carrying electronic RF-devices can be assisted with pulse radar systems. Frequency filters of such devices can be exposed to a radar pulse near the filters' resonance frequency and an echo can be detected enabling the localization of a device and probably of the owner, too.