Portable Radar for Noncontact Heart Rate Monitoring and Estrus Detection in Dairy Cows

This study introduces a portable radar system for real‐time monitoring of respiratory and heart rates in dairy cows. It uses millimeter‐wave Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar to perform noncontact physiological sensing, reducing behavioral disturbance. The radar system's design prioritizes portability, cost‐effectiveness, and robustness, allowing deployment in diverse farm environments. Experimental results show strong agreement between radar‐derived and reference measurements, confirmed through correlation analysis and supervised classification. Additionally, the study explores the integration of radar monitoring with advanced data analysis techniques, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Support Vector Machines (SVM), to enhance livestock health management processes. The system is validated for its capability to monitor respiratory and heart rates in real time and effectively classify cows' reproductive states, achieving a classification accuracy of 79.63% for estrus detection. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of radar‐based physiological monitoring and support future integration with data‐driven management tools. © 2025 The Author(s). IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering published by Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC.