When natural disasters or human-made catastrophes topple buildings, search and rescue teams immediately set out to find victims trapped beneath the wreckage. During these missions, time is imperative, and the ability to quickly detect living victims greatly increases the chances of rescue and survival. 
 
 The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, Washington, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., have developed a new radar-based technology named Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response, or FINDER. 
 
 FINDER was created to detect a human heartbeat buried beneath 30 feet (9 meters) of crushed material, hidden behind 20 feet (6 meters) of solid concrete, and from a distance of 100 feet (30 meters) in open space. 
 
 In the past several months, DHS and JPL have tested and developed several FINDER prototypes. In June, DHS and first responders used a prototype to conduct more than 65 test searches with two Urban Search and Rescue teams: the Virginia Task Force 1 at the Fairfax County Fire Department training center, and the Virginia Task Force 2 in Virginia Beach, Va. 
 
 "Testing proved successful in locating a task force member buried in 30 feet of mixed concrete, rebar and gravel rubble from a distance of over 30 feet," said John Price, DHS Science and Technology program manager. "This capability will complement the current urban search and rescue tools such as canines, listening devices and video cameras to detect the presence of living victims in rubble." 
 
 
 
 In disaster scenarios, like earthquakes and tornadoes, the debris from the disasters causes the radar signals of FINDER to bounce back irregularly, making it difficult to decipher the signals. "Isolating the relatively weak signal of a heartbeat within the noisy signals becomes a difficult task," said Edward Chow, JPL program manager. "JPL's radar expertise helps in this challenge." 
 
 
 
 JPL uses advanced data processing systems to pick out faint signals. The microwave radar technology is sensitive enough to distinguish the unique signature of a human's breathing pattern and heartbeat from that of other living creatures, such as rats. The advantage of this technology is to allow first responders to quickly ascertain if a living human is present in the debris. The technology is sensitive enough that victims, whether conscious or not, can easily be detected, which helps responders decide the most efficient course of action. 
 
 
 
 "It is anticipated that a commercialized technology could be ready for search and rescue operations as early as spring 2014," Price said. 
 
 
 
 The earlier tests resulted in design changes that are being incorporated into a new version of the device. These changes include a revised user interface, and increased battery life of up to 14 hours. The mechanical and electronic design has evolved with the core being a lightweight sensing module that uses a USB interface to integrate an antenna, radar electronics and digital processing. 
 
 
 
 "This module is the key to future miniaturization and the use of FINDER sensing technology in other applications," said James Lux, task manager for the FINDER project at JPL. Those applications include installing FINDER on proposed search and rescue robots, such as JPL's Urbie, on stretchers or ambulances to monitor a patient's heartbeat, and in biology research to distinguish species. 
 
 
 
 The research partners continue developmental efforts to construct a final prototype while using a wealth of practitioner input and recommendations following the test searches. Future phases of development will focus on a more specific locator function, which will help determine not only the presence of a victim, but more precisely where in the rubble the victim is located. 
 
 
 
 The California Institute of Technology manages JPL for NASA. 
 
 
 
 News Media Contact 
 
 Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov2013-282 ||||| Image Caption: Researchers performed a test of the Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response (FINDER) prototype technology - which can locate individuals buried in disasters - at the Virginia Task Force 1 Training Facility in Lorton, VA. The device uses radar technology developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., to sense the heartbeats and breathing of humans hidden behind piles of rubble. Included in the picture are members of the JPL team: Gary Glass at far left; Jim Lux, second from left; and Salman Haque at far right. Credit: DHS/John Price 
 
 [ Watch the Video: NASA Tech Will Hunt For Heartbeats After Disasters ] 
 
 Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online 
 
 NASA, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has developed a new technology which can detect heartbeats behind 20 feet of solid concrete or 30 feet of crushed material. This radar-based technology will be used in emergency situations where victims are trapped beneath collapsed buildings and other rubble. 
 
 The government agencies have been testing prototypes of this device for the last several months, and now they expect the first commercialized model of the product to be available by spring of 2014. Recent improvements in the design include a lightweight core, USB antenna and increased battery life of up to 14 hours. 
 
 NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, along with Science and Technology Directorate from the DHS, are calling this device ‘Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response,’ or FINDER. So far they’ve tested the unit in more than 65 simulated disasters with two Urban Search and Rescue Teams: The Virginia Task Force 1 at the Fairfax County Fire Department training center, and the Virginia Task Force 2 in Virginia Beach, Va. 
 
 Their goal was to create a tool that these teams could use to find signs of life in catastrophic situations. With this technology, lives could be saved which may have been lost forever underneath the rubble created by a tornado, earthquake or hurricane. The portable radar was able to penetrate concrete, rebar and other materials to distinguish heartbeats several feet away. When out in the open, the unit can detect a human heartbeat up to 100 feet away. 
 
 “Testing proved successful in locating a task force member buried in 30 feet of mixed concrete, rebar and gravel rubble from a distance of over 30 feet,” said DHS Science and Technology program manager John Price in a statement. 
 
 “This capability will complement the current urban search and rescue tools such as canines, listening devices and video cameras to detect the presence of living victims in rubble.” 
 
 The duo of the DHS and JPL seems to be a good fit in more ways than one. Edward Chow, JPL program manager, said the crushed and mangled material of a disaster presented some challenges for early prototypes of the device. Radar waves shot into the wreckage would bounce around and return irregular signals and, therefore, inaccurate results. 
 
 “Isolating the relatively weak signal of a heartbeat within the noisy signals becomes a difficult task,” said Chow. “JPL’s radar expertise helps in this challenge.” 
 
 The microwave radar technology isn’t just sensitive enough to distinguish the faint movement and sound of a heartbeat. It’s also smart enough to know if it’s “hearing” a human heartbeat or the heartbeat of some other living thing, such as a rat. These processing systems allow search and rescue operators to quickly understand if any survivors are trapped underneath slabs of concrete and debris and allow them to begin the process of extracting them. 
 
 After thorough testing of the earliest prototype, the DHS and JPL team decided to make a few changes to the design to improve the overall functionality of the device. One unit can perform all these tasks, including powering an antenna, a radar unit and digital processing, all with a single USB interface. The team also decided to change the user interface to make it easier to use by search and rescue teams. Future iterations of this device are expected to be even smaller and therefore easier to bring into disaster areas. 
 
 The DHS and JPL will demonstrate this new unit at a presentation next Wednesday in Virgina. ||||| NASA engineers have built a device that uses radar to detect heartbeats in the rubble of collapsed buildings, with technology typically used to explore other planets. The FINDER device, developed with the Department of Homeland Security, could help search-and-rescue teams find survivors trapped underneath the wreckage – even when those victims can’t call for help. 
 
 Identifying people who are still alive in a collapsed building is a major challenge for urban rescue missions, said Jim Lux, task manager at Jet Propulsion Laboratory for FINDER (short for Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response). Trapped victims often can't be heard, and using microphones to pick up their voices depends on their ability to call for help. 
 
 "The other search technique relies on the victims making noise," Lux said. The JPL device "can find an unconscious and unresponsive victim." 
 
 This new technology uses radar, the same technique employed by missile guidance systems and air traffic control. FINDER sends out a low-powered microwave signal – a fraction of what cellphones use – toward the rubble. Some of the microwave light bounces off of the rubble, but some of it manages to penetrate the debris and bounce off of trapped victims. 
 
 Unlike the rubble, the victim is actually moving rhythmically. The chest rises and falls as the victim breathes, and moves from heart beats – and the head moves as the veins on the scalp fill and empty out, Lux said. So that nearly imperceptible movement creates slight differences in timing when the waves bounce back, which the device can pick up. 
 
 “We looked for really tiny motions,” Lux said. 
 
 The researchers can distinguish people from animals, Lux said, because humans have a fairly unique range of heartbeats and respiration rates, and experts can use them in combination to identify human victims. 
 
 As for how they differentiate a signal potentially filled with heartbeats and breathing from other random movements (like a tree rustling), researchers use a technique called signal processing – something engineers at JPL are well-versed in, Lux said. It is basically the same technique radio astronomers use to identify individual pulsars from all the background noise, or to decipher a faint wobble in the signal from a spacecraft around Jupiter or Saturn. 
 
 At a training site in Lorton, Va., JPL engineers on Wednesday gave members of the urban search-and-rescue team Virginia Task Force 1 the device to test out in the rubble of a collapsed building. Volunteer victims had earlier crawled into the wreckage through strategically placed concrete pipes and waited to see if they were discovered. FINDER picked up all four volunteer victims in the first round, and got full marks in the second round as well, Lux said. 
 
 The test also provided other feedback. Searching a house-sized building (about 30 by 30 feet) would take about 10 minutes, Lux said, while it took roughly half an hour to find the volunteer victims in a much larger structure (approximately 100 feet by 250 feet, Lux estimated). The rescuers wanted the device to work faster, and Lux said researchers could likely cut the time in half. 
 
 "That’s why it’s important to talk to search-and-rescue folks," Lux said. "They have a wealth of knowledge about the things that work in the field that we just don’t have." 
 
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– NASA engineers have dreamed up and built a new device that could help rescuers save lots more lives after earthquakes or other disasters: It's essentially a radar gun that detects heartbeats under heaps of concrete and steel, reports Red Orbit. The FINDER device is portable at 20 pounds, and its microwaves penetrate rubble to pick up on the slightest of movements—even the breathing of an unconscious victim. But it's also smart enough to distinguish the breathing of a human from say, a rat, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, which developed the device with the Department of Homeland Security. The LA Times explains the process: "Unlike the rubble, the victim is actually moving rhythmically. The chest rises and falls as the victim breathes, and moves from heartbeats—and the head moves as the veins on the scalp fill and empty out." That movement "creates slight differences in timing when the waves bounce back, which the device can pick up." Tests this week in Virginia at a simulated disaster area went well, reports National Geographic, though it quotes one specialist as saying the device needs to provide information faster. After more tweaks, the FINDER is expected to be on the market next spring or summer for about $10,000. Another potential use cited by JPL: finding a kid lost in the woods. (Click to read about how an earthquake in Pakistan this week created a new island.)