An Ear-Worn mmWave Radar for Non-Intrusive Cardiovascular Health Monitoring

Continuous monitoring of cardiovascular activity is essential for personalized healthcare and early detection of cardiac abnormalities. Conventional wearable technologies, including electrocardiogram, photoplethysmography, and accelerometer-based sensors, typically require direct skin contact and can be affected by factors such as ambient lighting. Radar-based sensing has emerged as a promising alternative for non-contact cardiovascular monitoring. Existing wearable radar systems are limited to measurements at the chest, wrist, or head. This paper presents, for the first time, an ear-worn mmWave radar system capable of continuous, non-contact monitoring by targeting the dense arterial network within the auricular cavity. The system detects micrometer-scale skin vibrations induced by arterial pulsation, enabling the extraction of detailed cardiac parameters, including inter-beat intervals, and pulse waveform morphology. Experimental evaluations demonstrate that the proposed system reliably captures cardiovascular dynamics and confirm the feasibility of ear-worn mmWave radar as a viable wearable technology for seamless cardiovascular monitoring in daily life.