Towards integration of doppler radar sensors into personalized thermoregulation-based control of HVAC

This study evaluates the sensitivity of our novel and non-intrusive approach, powered by Doppler radar sensors to assess thermoregulation states as feedback to heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. Thermoregulation-based HVAC control employs changes in physiological response of the human body for heat dissipation adjustment as feedback to the control logic. Our envisioned system calls for monitoring devices, capable of timely recognition of thermal sensation variations to minimize user discomfort. Respiration, one of the major contributors in heat dissipation of the human body, can be non-intrusively measured by Doppler radar sensors. Thus, the question in this study was whether the application of Doppler radar sensors is qualified and sufficiently sensitive for the envisioned system integration. We have presented a conceptual framework for system integration using Doppler radar sensors as well as an experimental study for addressing the research question by quantifying respiration in a test bed with gradual temperature changes from low to high. The results showed an increasing trend in the respiration state for three subjects out of four, and it was observed that respiration increased in higher temperatures for all the subjects. In other words, it is demonstrated that the Doppler radar sensors have promising sensitivity for non-intrusive monitoring of thermoregulation responses.