It has been shown that remote monitoring of pulmonary activity can be achieved using ultra-wideband (UWB) systems, which shows promise in home healthcare,rescue,and security applications.In this paper,we first present a multi-ray propagation model for UWB signal,which is traveling through the human thorax and is reflected on the air/dry-skin/fat/muscle interfaces,A geometry-based statistical channel model is then developed for simulating the reception of UWB signals in the indoor propagation environment.This model enables replication of time-varying multipath profiles due to the displacement of a human chest.Subsequently, a UWB distributed cognitive radar system (UWB-DCRS) is developed for the robust detection of chest cavity motion and the accurate estimation of respiration rate.The analytical framework can serve as a basis in the planning and evaluation of future rheasurement programs.We also provide a case study on how the antenna beamwidth affects the estimation of respiration rate based on the proposed propagation models and system architecture. It has been shown that remote monitoring of pulmonary activity can be using ultra-wideband (UWB) systems, which shows promise in home healthcare, rescue, and security applications. In this paper, we first present a multi-ray propagation model for UWB signal, which is traveling through the human thorax and is reflected on the air / dry-skin / fat / muscle interfaces, A geometry-based statistical channel model is then developed for simulating the reception of UWB signals in the indoor propagation environment. this model enables replication of time-varying multipath profiles due to the displacement of a human chest. Substituted, a UWB distributed cognitive radar system (UWB-DCRS) is developed for the robust detection of chest cavity motion and the accurate estimation of respiration rate. The analytical framework can serve as a basis in the planning and evaluation of future rheasurement programs. We also provide a case study on how the antenna beamwidth affects the estimation of respiration rate based on the proposed propagation models and system architecture.