NASA-built heartbeat radar tested for rescue of disaster victims under rubble

Windsor Genova – Fourth Estate Cooperative Contributor

Lorton, VA, United States (4E) – NASA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are testing a newly-developed portable radar that can detect human heartbeat under 30 feet of rubble for use in disaster search and rescue operations.

The 20-pound Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response (FINDER) located volunteers hiding under heaps of debris during a demonstration to the media at the DHS’s Virginia Task Force 1 Training Facility in Lorton on Wednesday, according to John Price, program manager for the DHS First Responders Group in the agency’s Science and Technology Directorate in Washington.

“The ultimate goal of FINDER is to help emergency responders efficiently rescue victims of disasters,” said Price.

The microwave beaming FINDER uses a NASA Deep Space Network’s spacecraft radar technology that measures the distance of the Saturn prober Cassini. The technology’s signal processing can detect small changes in motion of the spacecraft as it orbits Saturn, said James Lux, task manager for FINDER at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Advanced algorithms isolate the tiny signals from a person’s moving chest by filtering out other signals, such as those from moving trees and animals, NASA explained. This capability allows the location of individuals buried as deep as 30 feet in crushed materials, hidden behind 20 feet of solid concrete, and from a distance of 100 feet in open spaces.

“FINDER is bringing NASA technology that explores other planets to the effort to save lives on ours,” said Mason Peck, chief technologist for NASA and principal advisor on technology policy and programs.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct further tests of the FINDER, Price said.