Real-Time Through-Wall Situation Awareness Using a Microwave Doppler Radar Sensor

Gianluca Gennarelli,Giovanni Ludeno,Francesco Soldovieri

doi:10.3390/rs8080621

Gianluca Gennarelli, Giovanni Ludeno + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8080621

Copy DOI

Abstract

This paper deals with the development of a short-range radar suitable for the detection of humans behind visually opaque structures such as building walls. The system consists in a continuous wave Doppler radar operating in the S-band of the electromagnetic spectrum in order to ensure an adequate signal penetration through the walls. Based on the interaction of the electromagnetic waves with human targets, a phase modulation of the radar signal arises due to their movements and tiny periodic chest displacements associated with the respiratory activity. A simple and effective radar data processing algorithm is proposed to detect, in real-time, the presence of one or several human subjects in the through-wall scene. Such an algorithm automatically provides also an indication on whether the subjects are static or moving in the environment. As shown by experimental tests carried out in an indoor scenario, the proposed sensing device and related signal processing yields prompt and reliable information about the scene thus confirming its practical value.

Highlights

Despite the noteworthy advances achieved in the field of through-wall radar (TWR) technology, most systems currently available are complex, expensive, and bulky owing to the necessity to achieve adequate performance in terms of imaging resolution [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
Conclusions paper has presented a Doppler radar system and an automatic procedure to detect in realtime human building walls
Produce some false alarms animals are present the scene, i.e. animals may be confused. This problem can when be in part mitigated by taking in the scene, i.e., animals may be confused with humans. This problem can be in part mitigated by than into account that most common domestic animals have a height smaller taking into account that most common domestic animals have a height smaller than humans

Summary

Introduction

Despite the noteworthy advances achieved in the field of through-wall radar (TWR) technology, most systems currently available are complex, expensive, and bulky owing to the necessity to achieve adequate performance in terms of imaging resolution [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. The technological advances have triggered numerous studies on CW Doppler radars devoted on one hand to the miniaturization and sensitivity improvement [19,20] and on the other hand to their assessment in new applicative contexts [21,22,23,24,25,26] In medicine, these radar systems have been proposed for preventing sudden infant death syndrome [22], tumor tracking in radiation therapy [22], sleep monitoring [23], imaging cardiac motion [24], monitoring of elderly subjects in smart homes [16], and detection of sleep breathing disorder episodes in living animals [25]. A physical and bulky antenna array has to be deployed to achieve adequate image resolution and satisfactory detection/tracking performance [2,6]

Radar System Description

Schematic

Data Processing

− Results

Conclusions