Date of Award
Spring 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Terms of Use
© 2025 John-William Cordero. This work is freely available courtesy of the author. It may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. For all other uses, please contact the copyright holder.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Engineering Department
First Advisor
Allan R. Moser
Abstract
The goal of this project is to develop a device that uses software-defined radio to detect human biological activity through walls by detecting changes in the received signals depending on if a human is present or not. Such a device will help local survivors locate victims from being stuck under collapsed buildings and debris, as opposed to having to wait for search and rescue teams. By making a relatively low cost and easy to use device, a more practical application of human detection was developed. Results showed that while the device requires user interpretation to determine the presence of a human at a more limited range, evidence shows that it is capable of detecting human respiration rate through walls at a distance of 1.1-1.2 meters while costing less than 400 USD, pointing towards the benefit of further investment into improving the device.
Recommended Citation
Cordero, John-William , '25, "Using Software Defined Radio to Detect Human Life" (2025). Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards. 960.
https://works.swarthmore.edu/theses/960