A Short-Range FMCW Radar-Based Approach for Multi-Target Human-Vehicle Detection

In this article, a new microwave-radar-based technique for short-range detection and classification of multiple human and vehicle targets crossing a monitored area is proposed. This approach, which can find applications in both security and infrastructure surveillance, relies upon the processing of the scattered-field data acquired by low-cost off-the-shelf components, i.e., a 24 GHz frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar module and a Raspberry Pi mini-PC. The developed method is based on an ad hoc processing chain to accomplish the automatic target recognition (ATR) task, which consists of blocks performing clutter and leakage removal with an infinite impulse response (HR) filter, clustering with a density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) approach, tracking using a Benedict-Bordner alpha-beta filter, features extraction, and finally classification of targets by means of a k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) algorithm. The approach is validated in real experimental scenarios, showing its capabilities in correctly detecting multiple targets belonging to different classes (i.e., pedestrians, cars, motorcycles, and trucks).

Automated summary

This article proposes a new microwave-radar-based technique for short-range detection and classification of multiple human and vehicle targets. The approach relies on processing scattered-field data and has been validated in real experimental scenarios, demonstrating its capabilities in correctly detecting and classifying different targets. It has potential applications in security and infrastructure surveillance.