Interferometric Measurement of the Angular Velocity of Moving Humans

This paper presents an analysis of the measurement of the angular velocity of walking humans using a millimeter-wave correlation interferometer. Measurement of the angular velocity of moving objects is a desirable function in remote sensing applications. Doppler radar sensors are able to measure the signature of moving humans based on micro-Doppler analysis; however, a person moving with little to no radial velocity produces negligible Doppler returns. Measurement of the angular movement of humans can be done with traditional radar techniques, however the process involves either continuous tracking with narrow beamwidth or angle-of-arrival estimation algorithms. A new method of measuring the angular velocity of moving objects using interferometry has recently been developed which measures the angular velocity of an object without tracking or complex processing. The frequency of the interferometer signal response is proportional to the angular velocity of the object as it passes through the interferometer beam pattern. In this paper, the theory of the interferometric measurement of angular velocity is covered and simulations of the response of a walking human are presented. Simulations are produced using a model of a walking human to show the significant features associated with the interferometer response, which may be used in classification algorithms.