Wireless BLE Radar Algorithms for Home Gait Monitoring

10/12/2025

This work, conducted by researchers at the Microwave and Radar Group of the Information Processing and Telecommunications Center (IPTC), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, presents three highly efficient algorithms that enable wireless data extraction for Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) and Continuous-Wave (CW) radar systems used for domestic gait monitoring. The proposed methods address the challenges posed by Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) bandwidth limitations and the restricted computational capabilities of low-cost embedded microcontrollers, while still extracting the Doppler–time matrices needed for clinical gait analysis.

In-house developed radar system that extracts data through BLE implementing the efficient algorithms described.

Two algorithms are developed for FMCW radars, each balancing on-board processing and BLE transmission load. A third algorithm is introduced for CW radars, enabling direct BLE transmission thanks to their inherently lower data rates. The study analyzes BLE robustness, showing no packet loss in single- or multi-node indoor scenarios. Signal integrity is evaluated by comparing BLE-based approaches with traditional (and more expensive) external acquisition, revealing a slight SNR degradation due to microcontroller constraints. Despite this, gait parameters extracted from BLE-based radar systems remain accurate and align with state-of-the-art radar home monitoring solutions.

This research demonstrates that reliable, easy-to-deploy and cost-efficient radar networks can operate using wireless data extraction, greatly simplifying installation in domestic environments. Potential applications extend beyond Parkinson’s disease monitoring to include fall-risk assessment, rehabilitation supervision, elderly-care monitoring, vital-sign extraction, activity recognition, and integration into smart-home health platforms.

Bibliographic reference:

López-Delgado, I.E., Udrea-Ifrim, D., Arnaiz-Burgos, Á., Gómez-Bracamonte. M. & Grajal, J. Radar Network for Gait Monitoring: Algorithms for Wireless Data Extraction,in 2025 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf25), Krakow, Poland, 2025, pp. 1034-1039, doi: 10.1109/RadarConf2559087.2025.11205001.

Related information:

2025 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf25)

2025 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf25) / Proceedings

IPTC Authors:

López Delgado, Ignacio Esteban: GS / ORCID / LinkedIn

Udrea-Ifrim, Denis: ORCID / LinkedIn

Arnaiz-Burgos, Álvaro: LinkedIn

Grajal, Jesús: GS / ORCID / LinkedIn

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iptc-upm/

For more information: www.iptc.upm.es