Introduction

The developed technique makes it possible to automatically estimate the relative position and orientation of each radar in a network of millimeter-wave radars by exploiting the movement of targets moving through the environment. Unlike existing solutions, the technique works even in the presence of multiple targets, which can follow any type of trajectory.

Technical features

Monitoring an environment using multiple mmWave radars requires them being calibrated with each other. The patented self-calibration method operates in the context of multiple mmWave radar sensors and enables to automatically estimate  the relative position and orientation of each radar compared to a common reference system (e.g., of one of the radars) to be automatically estimated from the movement of targets moving in the common area of the radars’ visual field. The method works by radar pairs. For networks with more than two radars, it is clearly enough to repeat the method iteratively for each radar pair. Specifically, a set of tracks from the same target(s) of opportunity is assumed to be available to each radar. The system works automatically (without human intervention) with multiple targets and any type of trajectory, being able to even manage  the occlusion events should happen.
TRL4: the technology has been validated in laboratory.

Possible Applications

• People tracking – people movement monitoring in large buildings;
• Monitoring of restricted areas in industrial settings;
• Customer behaviour analysis in the retail environment;
• Automatic and non-contact detection of people’s vital parameters.

 

Advantages

• Eliminates the necessity  for a manual and/or controlled calibration step;
• Works with multiple targets;
• Resistant to target occlusion events;
• Does not require regular or predetermined shaped trajectories (works with any trajectory).