Radar-Based Sensor Saves Life of Hong Kong Inmate

By CN Staff

TORONTO, Can.—The use of Toronto-based healthcare technology company Xandar Kardian’s UWB radar sensors in a maximum-security institution in Hong Kong has reportedly saved the life of an inmate, launching plans for expanded use of radar health monitoring solutions in correctional facilities to improve inmate safety.

Xandar Kardian’s UWB radar sensors are installed at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre in Hong Kong in partnership with security solutions company GuardForce and technology developer Cherrypicks. In July 2021, a Xandar Kardian sensor detected a drop in an inmate’s vital signs after they fainted and collapsed in their cell, likely going into cardiac arrest, just a few minutes after duty staff carried out a scheduled patrol. The sensor system, which is set up to deliver alerts to prison staff when an inmate’s vital signs are outside of normal ranges, allowed staff to provide lifesaving first aid in adequate time.

“The goal is to enable timely healthcare intervention,” Co-founder and Managing Director of Xandar Kardian Sam Yang said. “Making the vital sign information of these inmates immediately available and constantly updated to prison staff, without any extra work on their part, is an ideal solution in busy facilities such as this one. It’s a significant step towards guaranteeing inmate safety.”

In the Siu Lam facility, the Xandar Kardian sensors are installed directly into the single-occupancy cells of at-risk inmates and continuously monitor the wellbeing of the cell’s occupant. Xandar Kardian’s cutting-edge UWB radar technology reacts to the micro-vibrations of the human body, such as a heart beating or lung pumping, for highly accurate vital sign measurements. Importantly, the Xandar Kardian sensors require no wearables on the inmate, no video or audio recordings, no software to operate, and no battery to change – providing a completely autonomous, continuous, and privacy-secure health-monitoring solution.

Since this life-saving event, prison management has requested additional sensors to be deployed in their correctional services facilities, and installation will begin later this year. A new project deploying Xandar Kardian sensors at a prison facility in Australia has already begun.