WO2021127421A1

WO2021127421A1 - Animal monitoring system incorporating a mmwave device

Info

Publication number: WO2021127421A1
Application number: PCT/US2020/065992
Authority: WO
Inventors: Steven Toddes; Craig Ferris
Original assignee: Animal Imaging Research, LLC
Priority date: 2019-12-19
Filing date: 2020-12-18
Publication date: 2021-06-24

Abstract

An animal monitoring system that is configured to monitor circadian rhythms, respiration, heart rate and motor activity in a test animal includes a mmWave sensor device for detecting a position of the animal contained within an enclosed enclosure. The data obtained from the mmWave sensor device can be used to determine the breathing rate (respiration) and heart rate of the animal.

Description

Animal Monitoring System Incorporating a mmWave Device

Cross Reference to Related Application

The present application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application serial No. 62/950,552, filed December 19, 2019, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

The present invention generally relates to animal monitoring system and more specifically, relates to a system that is configured to monitor circadian rhythms (e.g., circadian variations in sleep/wake cycles), respiration, heart rate and motor activity, etc., in test animals and all species used in nonclinical drug discovery and preclinical research such as mice, rats, voles, hamsters, large and small monkeys, rabbits, etc.

Background

Assessing circadian variations in sleep/wake cycles, respiration, heart rate and motor activity are critical measures in nonclinical drug discovery and preclinical research. The monitoring of circadian rhythms in laboratory animals is essential in biomedical research and goes far beyond the issues of chronobiology. Numerous psychiatric illnesses are comorbid with sleep/circadian disturbances rendering the assessment of rodent locomotor activity an important measure in pre-clinical psychiatric research. Acquiring data continuously over a 24 to 48 hour period and even longer is a computational and technological burden that is very time consuming in terms of the management of personnel hours and costly in terms of equipment. Present technology includes specialized habitat housing designed with multiple sensors or apparatuses to assess different circadian measures. Typically, systems use light beam sensors, implanted tracking beacons or visible/NIR cameras to track animals within a defined environment. In addition to basic telemetry, most implanted systems and some sophisticated visual systems can also provide some information on respiration and heartrate. These systems output complicated data, which requires dedicated systems to process and/or require surgical implantation into the animal which can be disruptive to normal behavior.

There is therefore a need for an animal monitoring system that is less time consuming, less costly, and less personnel intensive. Summary

The present disclosure is directed to a system and method that are configured to: (1) utilize an active radar system to sense a position of an animal, such as a. rodent (e.g., vole, hamster, mouse, rat) within an enclosed or closed environment; and (2) sense respiration and heart rate of the animal. The radar system is in the form of a mmWave device that is configured to detect the position and movement of the animal. The mmWave device is designed to be disposed in any number of different positions within the enclosed or closed environment using traditional mounting techniques, such the use of one or more fasteners, such as hook and loop material or other mounting hardware. As is known, mmWave is a sensing technology for detection of objects (in this case a rodent for example) and provides the range, velocity and angle of these objects. It is a contactless-technology which operates in the spectrum between 30 GHz - 300 GHz. Due to the technology’s use of small wavelengths it can provide sub-mm range accuracy and is able to penetrate certain materials such as plastic, drywall, and fabric and therefore, provides advantages over other technologies. mmWave sensors transmit signals with a wavelength which is in the millimeter (mm) range. This is considered a short wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum and is one of the advantages of this technology. The size of system components, such as an antenna required to process mmWave signals, is small. Another advantage of short wavelengths is the high resolution. A mmWave system that resolves distances to wavelength typically has accuracy in the mm range at 60-64 GHz and 76-81 GHz. It will be understood that the aforementioned values are only exemplary in nature and not limiting of the scope of the present disclosure.

As described herein, in addition to position sensing, velocity movements in the typical range of respiration and heart rate can be detected within the signal, received with the mmWave device, as minor variations in the position and velocity sensing. By inference, the low signal frequency variations can be assumed to be respiration or heart rate of the animal and not typical noise if they are stable and within the appropriate frequency for either respiration or heart rate of the animal.

Brief Description of the Drawing Figures

Fig. 1 is a side perspective view of a mmWave device connected to an add-on board;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an exemplary enclosure along with an exemplary radar cone from a radar device (the mmWave device); Fig. 3 illustrates a mm Wave device mounted to the one side wall of an enclosure with point cloud data being shown and the scope and sweep of the mmWave device is also illustrated;

Fig. 4 illustrates a mmWave device mounted to the top (ceiling) of an enclosure with point cloud data being shown and the scope and sweep of the mmWave device is also illustrated;

Fig. 5 is a functional block diagram of a radar device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 6 is a flow chart of the method for determining respiratory and/or heart rates of a target animal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 7 depicts an exemplary user interface with a rendering of a target animal respiration rate and heart rates according to one implementation.

Detailed Description of Certain Embodiments

The present disclosure is directed to a system and method that are configured to: (1) utilize a radar system to sense a position of an animal (e.g., rat) within a closed environment, such as an enclosure; and (2) sense respiration and heart-rate of the animal.

As mentioned, the system includes a closed environment, such as a cage or housing. Generally, the cage includes a bottom wall or floor; side walls and a top. Any number of materials can be used to form the housing including metals and plastics.

Radar Device

As mentioned, one exemplary system 100 incorporates a radar device 110 and more specifically, the radar device 110 is in the form of a mmWave device. The passive radar device is configured to sense (detect) the position of the animal (e.g., rat) within the closed environment 10 (cage). The passive radar device can also be configured so that it generates 1 Flz output positions center mass as X, Y coordinates (mm) and 1 Flz output bounding box of center mass as 4 X, Y coordinates (mm). The data can either be stored locally, transmitted along a network to a nearby device or sent directly to the cloud for storage and/or processing. mmWave Device 110

As is understood in the art, millimeter wave (mmWave) is a special class of radar technology that uses short wavelength electromagnetic waves. Radar systems transmit electromagnetic wave signals that objects in their path then reflect. By capturing the reflected signal, a radar system can determine the range, velocity and angle of the objects. mmWave radars transmit signals with a wavelength that is in the millimeter range. This is considered a short wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum and is one of the advantages of this technology. Indeed, the size of system components such as the antennas required to process mmWave signals is small. Another advantage of short wavelengths is the high accuracy. An mmWave system operating at 76-81 GHz (with a corresponding wavelength of about 4 mm)(in one embodiment), will have the ability to detect movements that are as small as a fraction of a millimeter.

A complete mmWave radar system includes transmit (TX) and receive (RX) radio frequency (RF) components; analog components such as clocking; and digital components such as analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), microcontrollers (MCUs) and digital signal processors (DSPs). Traditionally, these systems were implemented with discrete components, which increased power consumption and overall system cost. System design is challenging due the complexity and high frequencies.

One exemplary mmWave sensor evaluation kit is commercially available from Texas Instruments and marketed under the product name IWR6843ISK. In general, the IWR6843ISK is an easy-to-use mmWave sensor evaluation kit with a long-range antenna enabling direct connectivity to the mmWave sensor card carrier (MMWAVEICBOOST). The board enables access to point-cloud data through a USB interface, and raw analog-to-digital converter (ADC) data through a 60-pin high-speed connector. The kit is supported by standard mmWave tools and software, including mmWave Studio (MMWAVE- STUDIO) and the mmWave software development kit (MMWAVE-SDK). IWR6843ISK paired with MMWAVEICBOOST can interface with the MCU LaunchPad™ development kit ecosystem. All of these accessories are available through Texas Instruments.

Fig. 1 shows an exemplary system 100 including the mmWave sensor device 110 that comprises, for example, a IWR6843ISK sensor.

The following are features of the IWR6843ISK sensor:

• 60- to 64-GHz mmWave sensor;

• 4 receive (RX) 3 transmit (TX) antenna with 108° azimuth field of view (FoV) and 44° elevation FoV ;

• Direct interface with MMWAVEICBOOST;

• Supports 60-pin high-speed interface for host-controlling interface; and

• Onboard capability for power-consumption monitoring. The IWR6843ISK sensor (board) thus contains a 60 Hz mmWave radar transceiver in which antennas are attached and act as the radar front-end board.

Any number of suitable power supplies can be used.

It will also be understood that the IWR6843ISK sensor (board) is only one exemplary mmWave device (sensor) 110 and others can equally be used so long as they are suitable for the intended application described herein.

MMWAVEICBOOST 120

The MMWAVEICBOOST 120 is an add-on board used with the mmWave sensor(s) device 110 (e.g., the IWR6843ISK sensor) and is provided in starter kits to provide more interfaces and PC connectivity to the mmWave sensor(s). This add-on board 120 provides an interface for the mmWave Studio tool to configure the radar device and capture the raw analog-to-digital converter (ADC) data.

The MMWAVEICBOOST 120 is shown in Fig. 1 coupled to the IWR6843ISK sensor

110.

Fig. 5 is a functional block diagram of a radar device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The radar device 100 includes the mmWave device 110 and_add-on board 120. The mmWave device 110 includes a transceiver 130 adapted to transmit and receive millimeter-wave electromagnetic radiation via an antenna 135. The transceiver is activated by a programmable microcontroller 140 that is configured to receive, process (analyze) and store reflected radar data received by the transceiver. The mmWave device includes additional components that aid in the tasks of analysis and storage including a digital signal processor (DSP) 145, local memory 150 and analog/digital converter 155. The local memory 150 can be RAM, or other solid-state memory such as flash memory, for example. The mmWave device 110 is coupled to (situated on) the add-on board 120. The add-on board includes its own analog-digital converter 160 and has a USB interface 165 for coupling to an external computing device (“computing device”) which can be remotely based or local. The add-on circuit board can include any number of additional components such as a power regulator, additional memory, processing units, specialized circuits, etc. As noted above, the mmWave Device can be implemented using an IWR6843ISK sensor, and the add-on board can be implemented using MMWAVEICBOOST.

The remote computing device is preferably coupled to the cloud (e.g., a cloud server) but can be For example, the mmWave device 110 can transmit point cloud data, as described below, to the external computing system 175, and the external computing system 175, in turn, can transmit configuration information to the mm Wave device any computing device having sufficient processing power and capability to interact with and/or provide configuration information to system 100. The mmWave device 110 and the external computing system 175 can communicate via the USB interface and/or a wireless interface that operates according to known protocols such as WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. (not shown).

Point Cloud Data

As is known, point clouds are collections of 3D points located randomly in space and thus are datasets that represent objects or space. These points represent the X, Y, and Z geometric coordinates of a single point on an underlying sampled surface. Point clouds are a means of collating a large number of single spatial measurements into a dataset that can then represent a whole monitored space. When tone information is present, the point cloud becomes 4D, with the extra information indicating a tone value (e.g., a gray-scale value).

Typically, a sensor emits a pulse of energy and times its return trip (TWTT, two way travel time). Knowing the position of the sensor, and the direction in which the pulse was transmitted, the 3D location of the reflecting surface can be determined. The sensor can also measure the intensity of the return, to estimate the surface geometry and material composition of the reflecting surface. The point cloud can be used directly, or converted to a 2.5D grid, a DTM or DSM. A 2.5D grid can be smaller in size, more familiar, and easier to manipulate, than a point cloud. While point clouds are most commonly generated using 3D laser scanners and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology and techniques, other techniques are possible. When using such technology, each point represents a single laser scan measurement. These scans are then stitched together, creating a complete capture of a scene, using a process called ‘registration’. Conversely, point clouds can be synthetically generated from a computer program.

Example Embodiment

A closed enclosure 10 was provided for an exemplary test in the form of a 200 mm (L) x 200 mm (W) x 100 mm (H). However, it will be appreciated that these dimensions are only exemplary for test purposes and not limiting of the present disclosure and it is understood that other dimensions are equally possible.

The system 100 is securely positioned relative to the closed enclosure 10 using conventional equipment and/or techniques. In one embodiment, the mounting hardware for the system and in particular, the radar device 110, allows for adjustments in the position of the device 110, such as the angle (title) and/or height of the passive radar device 110 relative to the closed enclosure 10.

Fig. 2 generally shows one enclosure 10 along with an exemplary radar cone from the radar device (mmWave device) located in the corner of the room and it can be seen that the radar cone covers almost the entire enclosure.

It will be seen from the above figure that the mmWave device 110 is configured and positioned such that the produced radar cone entirely or at least substantially covers the area of the enclosure 10 in which the animal is permitted to move. For a rodent, this area generally is the floor (bottom) of the cage (enclosure) and thus, the radar cone should be such that the entire or substantially entire area of the floor can be monitored and the animal tracked there along.

For example, the mmWave device 110 can be disposed in many different locations within the closed enclosure 10 as shown below. One location is along the underside of the top wall and another location is along the floor, such as below the bedding of the animal.

Any number of mounting methods can be used to mount the mmWave (sensor) device 110 such as the use of one or more fasteners. In one example, the fastener can be in the form of one or more pieces of hook and loop material.

The mmWave device 110 generally provides the point cloud data which can be used to detect any object of interest, such as an animal. One mode of operation can be selected that provides raw point cloud data as base code for further changes. This data can be visualized through a number of programs, Matlab being a common example.

To use and optimize the system, certain operating parameters of the system 100 can be tuned to an application of closed environment tracking of point cloud data. For example, tuning can be done with respect to the number of frames captured; the scope of the area to be scanned can be reduced to stimulate a closed environment of 200 mm x 200 mm x 100 mm (test enclosure). The placement of the mmWave device 110 (the evaluation mode) can also be adjusted to the height of around 100 mm from the surface. Accordingly, fine tuning and optimization can be done.

The present test was successful in that the evaluation modules (mmWave device 110) successfully recorded the movement of a movable object that was placed in the enclosure 10. With changes in the number of frames, the point cloud data volume gets impacted. For example, at the frame rate of 1, hardly a single point gets recorded for the movement of the object and it disappears immediately when there is no movement of the object. Fig. 3 set forth below shows the mm Wave device 110 mounted to the one side wall of the housing (enclosure 10). The point cloud data is captured for the object in motion (e.g., an animal). As discussed herein and as illustrated below, the point cloud data is represented by a set of points (depicted as circles in Fig. 3). The scope and sweep of the mmWave device 110 is also illustrated.

Fig. 4 shows the mmWave device 110 mounted to the top of the enclosure (cage) 10. The point cloud data is captured for the object in motion (e.g., the animal). As discussed herein and as illustrated below, the point cloud data is represented by a set of points (depicted as circles in Fig. 4). The scope and sweep of the mmWave device 110 is also illustrated. The complete raw data x, y and z coordinates of points in the cloud gets recorded in the csv file for the reference. The sample data is shown below in Table 1.

The data can be time stamped and a user interface allows the user to input a test (experiment) time period which represents the time period of which the rodent is monitored. For example, each frame can represent a point in time and the system can be configured such that a frame is captured every 1 second. Based on the present experiments, it is clear that a small object, such as a rodent (e.g., rat) can be tracked in a closed environment (e.g., housing/cage) using mm Wave technology and in particular, by incorporation of the mm Wave device into the housing/caging.

As mentioned, the mmWave (sensor) device 110 includes a microcontroller and digital signal processing unit. The add-on circuit board 120 (Fig. 1) can include addition processing units. Furthermore, the system 100 is coupled to an external computing device.

In some embodiments, the external computing device provides a user interface that enables user interaction with the radar system 100 including data input. For example, the user interface allows for inputting of identification data such as a study name, study conditions, animal health data (size, weight, age) and can also allow for user selection of the animal type. This input data can then be associated with data collected by the mmWave sensor device. The collected point cloud data and data derived therefrom can then be retrieved using the user interface of the computing device using the study name as an index. Additionally, the user interface can be configured to present a pull-down menu listing animal(s) studied through which stored data can be accessed. The stored data can be presented via the user interface of the computing device 175 in various forms. In some embodiments, displayed data can include animal position data over time, and respiratory and heart rate ranges for the monitored animals. This data can be represented as a time-series (historical data), an average, as a variance, and combinations thereof.

Other data that can be inputted includes but is not limited to the size and weight of the animal.

Respiration and Heart Rate Sensing of the Animal

In another aspect of the present disclosure and system provides a method of determining a respiration and heart rate of the animal in appropriate conditions, such as when the animal is stationary within the enclosure. The accuracy of the mm Wave device system is sufficient to detect output peak frequencies of respiratory and/or heat rates of the target (e.g., rodent) in the range of 1 Hz and 8 Hz (mHz).

The radar device described herein not only serves to track the position of the animal over time but also allows for monitoring of the animal during certain conditions, such as when the animal is stationary. In particular and generally, the mm Wave device is sensitive and the bodily movements (rising chest, etc.) of the animal can be sensed when the animal is stationary within the cage. Fig. 6 is a flow chart of the method for determining respiratory and/or heart rates of a target animal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In step 200, the method begins, in step 205, the computing device receives mmWave radar point cloud data reflected from a target animal in an enclosure from the mmWave device. In step 210, the computing device, executes an algorithm that compares the newly received point cloud data with previous point could data, and from this comparison determines, in step 220, whether or not the target animal is stationary. If it is determined that the animal is not stationary, in step 225, the computing device processes the received point cloud data to determine distances and angles to the target animal as it moves. After step 225, in step 235, the computing device determines the position of the target animal in three-dimensional space from the distance and angle data. If, on the other hand, it is determined in step 220 that the animal is stationary, in step 230 the computing device processes the point cloud data to obtain doppler data which indicates subtle motions of the target toward or away from the mmWave radar device. After the doppler data is obtained, in step 240, the computing device determines the respiration and heart rate of the target animal from the doppler data. This is possible as the chest movement of the animal due to breathing and the subtler vibrational movement due to the heart beating can be detected from the doppler data. After either step 235 or step 240, the resulting determinations of position and respiration/heart rates, respectively, are saved in step 250. In step 260, the computing device receives input from an operator indicates whether the current study is over or is continuing. If it is continuing, the method cycles back to step 205 and additional point cloud data is received. If the current study is over, the method ends in step 270. It is to be understood that the computing device may execute different programs, modules and subroutines in the processing steps above, which can be part of a single program application or distinct application.

In some embodiments, the user interface can render the captured breathing rate and heart rate can be displayed as shown in Fig. 7. As can be seen, the chest displacement of the animal is measured using the mmWave device as shown above and based on filtering of the data obtained with the mmWave device, a breathing waveform and heart waveform can be generated. From this information, the breathing rate and heart rate can be determined and displayed.

Thus, the mmWave device 110 is configured to detect the vital signs (based on the Doppler effect) by determining the difference between transmitted and received electromagnetic waves. These vital signs appear as modulations in the radar data in period with the heartbeats and respiration of the animal.

Since the calculation of the breathing rate and heart rate are based on the collected data from the mmWave device, the breathing rate and heart rate are preferably calculated when the animal is stationary or nearly stationary since chest displacement is measured to calculate these values. Thus, the computing device is configured with an algorithm that that can detect and flag received data that bears the “fingerprint” of when the animal is stationary (this is in contrast to human monitoring in which humans can be instructed to remain stationary). For example, it goes without saying that when the animal is stationary, the animal will not be changing position within the enclosure beyond minor bodily movement, like the targeted chest displacement. Thus, when animal is detected as being stationary at a location, the recorded data is of interest since this data is best utilized for detecting the subtler signals of chest displacement activity which in turn is used to calculate the breathing waveform and heart waveform and ultimately, the breathing rate and heart rate. The executed algorithm can be further configured to determine and flag a stationary state as one in which the animal exhibits a lack of activity (movement) over a set period of time (e.g., in seconds) is deemed to be representative of the animal being in a stationary state. For each of these stationary states flagged by the algorithm, the underlying recorded data, such as doppler data (see above Table) is analyzed and used to calculate the breathing rate and heart rate.

Thus, the present system uses the same mm Wave device to perform multiple operations, including tracking the position of the animal and capturing and interpreting chest displacement in order to generate a breathing rate and heart rate of the animal under certain detected conditions (e.g., the animal is detected as being stationary).

When a data set report is generated, such as shown in Table 1, the user interface can be configured to visually flag and identify the time periods that have been identified as being periods in which the animal is perceived to be stationary. Such flagging can be done by visually contrasting the data associated with this time period compared to the data of other time periods (i.e., the non- stationary time periods). For example, the data can be presented in a different color or the lines of data can be highlighted.

The computing device is therefore configured to perform a number of processes, including, but not limited to:

(1) continuous tracking of animals in a closed environment;

(2) provision of x, y, z coordinates of the location of an animal in the closed environment on front end software over USB to a computing device configured for processing the coordinate data;

(3) in case of no movement of the animal, the respiration and heart rate of the rat are measured; and (4) alerts, if required can be generated (as mentioned, the device can include audio and/or visual alerts when one or more prescribed events are detected).

Other advantageous details of the disclosed system and method include:

1. 24 hour recording of circadian measures of heart rate, respiration and motor activity.

2. Non-invasive technology that can be used in any preexisting commercial rodent cage;

3. Attachment of the sensor device to any position within the housing (cage), while results can be recorded remotely.

4. Cost savings over conventional, specialized habitat housing and telemetry recordings.

5. Can be used in MRI to record and gate heart rate and respiration remotely, outside the magnet for human and animal imaging studies.

6. Can be sued to detect more than one animal in a cage by using attenuation technology attached to one of the animals.

7. Can be used in MRI to record eye block and eye movement remotely in human and animal imaging studies.

8. Can be used in total darkness to study free running circadian rhythms.

9. Can be used in an animal assay requiring tracking such as elevated plus maze for anxiety, y and T maze for memory, condition place preference for drug seeking behavior, etc.

While the MMWAVEICBOOST board 120 is suitable for use and was tested in the present experiments, in another embodiment, a customized back end board can used having more limited functionality to receive data from the sensor board, perform necessary transformation of data and transfer it to front end software for visualization and storage. Data transfer can occur via USB only; however, the board can be customized easily for any other mode of data transfer like WiFi as mentioned herein. With respect to front end algorithms, MATLAB applications from Texas Instruments can be used; however, a customized front end application can be developed in various programming languages for easy access, setup and flexible interfacing with web, etc.

It will also be appreciated that the above described system 100 can be used to track multiple objects (subjects) within a single enclosure. Additionally, the system 100 can also be used to track multiple objects (subjects) within multiple enclosures. For example, the system can be used to track 10 rodents that are within 5 different enclosures using a single mmWave device 110. In this type of arrangement, the mm Wave device is designed and positioned to provide coverage over all 5 enclosures to permit monitoring of all of the objects. For example, the mmWave device can be mounted at a position above all of the enclosures to allow sufficient radar coverage. In addition, since the dimensions of the enclosure is known, the display on the screen can show the borders of the enclosures and data points can be depicted in each enclosure similar to that shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

Although much of the foregoing description has been directed to systems and methods for animal monitoring, the system and methods disclosed herein can be similarly deployed and/or implemented in scenarios, situations, and settings far beyond the referenced scenarios. It should be further understood that any such implementation and/or deployment is within the scope of the system and methods described herein.

It is to be further understood that like numerals in the drawings represent like elements through the several figures, and that not all components and/or steps described and illustrated with reference to the figures are required for all embodiments or arrangements. Further, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms ""including," "comprising," or "having," "containing," "involving," and variations thereof herein, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

It should be noted that use of ordinal terms such as "first," "second," "third," etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.

The subject matter described above is provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed as limiting. Various modifications and changes can be made to the subject matter described herein without following the example embodiments and applications illustrated and described, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An animal monitoring system that is configured to monitor circadian rhythms, respiration, heart rate and motor activity in a test animal comprising: a mmWave sensor device for detecting a position of the animal contained within an enclosed enclosure.

2. The animal monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the animal comprises all species used in nonclinical drug discovery and preclinical research.

3. The animal monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the mmWave sensor device is disposed along one surface of the enclosed enclosure.

4. The animal monitoring system of claim 3, wherein the mmWave sensor device is mounted to an underside of a top of the enclosed enclosure.

5. The animal monitoring system of claim 3, wherein the mmWave sensor device is mounted along a side wall of the enclosed enclosure.

6. The animal monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the enclosed enclosure comprises a cage.

7. The animal monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the mmWave sensor device provides point cloud data which can be used to detect the test animal.

8. The animal monitoring system of claim 7, wherein the mmWave sensor device has a USB port to permit upload and transfer of the point cloud data.

9. The animal monitoring system of claim 7, further including a computer software configured to provide visualization of the point cloud data and respiration.

10. The animal monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the mmWave sensor device has a 6- to 300GHz mmWave sensor.

11. A method for monitoring circadian rhythms, respiration, heart rate and motor activity in at least one test animal comprising the step of: using a mmWave sensor device for detecting a position and behavior of the animal contained within an enclosure over a test period.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein there are a plurality of animals contained in one enclosure.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein there are a plurality of rodents contained in multiple enclosures and one a single mmWave sensor device is used.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the mmWave sensor device is configured to transmit measurement data in real time to a computing device.

15. The method of claim 11, further including the steps of detecting a time period when the animal is stationary and using measurement data from the mmWave device that corresponds to the time period to determine a breathing rate and heart rate of the animal.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of detecting a time period when the animal is stationary comprises the step of analyzing position data of the animal and determining that the position data is indicative of the animal being stationary.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of determining a breathing rate and heart rate comprises the step of observing a bodily displacement of the animal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the bodily displacement comprises a displacement of a chest area of the animal.

19. An animal monitoring system that is configured to monitor respiration, heart rate and motor activity in a test animal comprising: a housing enclosing the test animal; a mmWave sensor device positioned within the housing adapted to transmit radar waves for detecting a position of the test animal within the housing; and a computing device communicatively coupled to the mmWave sensor device and configured to determine, from data received form the mmWave sensor device, the respiration, heart rate and motor activity of the test animal.

20. The animal monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the mmWave sensor device is mounted to an underside of a top of the enclosed enclosure.

21. An animal monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the mmWave sensor device is mounted along a side wall of the enclosed enclosure.

22. An animal monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the mmWave sensor device generates point cloud data which can be used to detect the test animal.

23. An animal monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the mmWave sensor device generates radar waves having a frequency of between 6 GHz and 300GHz.

24. An animal monitoring system of claim 19, wherein computing device is configured to provide a user interface display on which a visualization of the respiration, heart rate and motor activity of the test animal is rendered.

25. A method of determining system that is configured to monitor respiration, heart rate and motor activity in a test animal enclosed in a confined space, the method comprising: emitting mm-wavelength radar waves covering the confined space and the test animal therein; receiving, at a sensor, radar waves reflected from the test animal; generating point cloud data from the received radar waves indicating a position of the test animal within the confined space; and determining the respiration, hear rate and motor activity of the test animal from the point cloud data.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising determining whether the test animal is stationary from the point cloud data.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the determining of whether the test animal is stationary is obtained from a time series of point cloud data.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising filtering the point cloud data to obtain doppler data when it is determined that the test animal is stationary.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the respiration rate and heart rate of the test animal is determined from the doppler data.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising rendering a visualization of the motor activity, respiration rate and heart rate of the test animal on a display.