Latest advances in through‐wall radar sensing for security applications

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine existing radar sensor results, techniques for through‐wall radar and current applications for the technology.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides information on sensing through a high‐attenuation obstacle and the associated pitfalls and considerations. Results from ultra‐wide‐band (UWB) impulse radar, micro‐Doppler radar, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) targeted at this area are presented. Discussion of radar clutter classification is given and also observations on presenting a system with a non‐zero false alarm rate to a user to give best confidence and maximum decision capability.

Findings

There are significant new requirements for through‐wall radar which a combination of UWB, continuous wave, and SAR techniques with recent signal processing advances and the advent of low‐cost radio and image processing can meet in distributed markets. Risk of a poor user level decision in a non‐zero‐false‐alarm‐rate system can be mitigated by increasing the number of inputs into the decision.

Originality/value

The paper lists challenges that have been overcome in the area of through‐wall sensing and presents results from novel radar sensors.

Citation

Edgcombe, J.P. (2008), "Latest advances in through‐wall radar sensing for security applications", Sensor Review, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 205-211. https://doi.org/10.1108/02602280810882553