Radar measurements with realistic wall type for verification of the seearound-corners principle
Publish date: 2009-01-08
Report number: FOI-R--2688--SE
Pages: 41
Written in: Swedish
Keywords:
- radar
- see-around-corner
- Doppler
- X-band
- urban scenario
- multiple reflections
- diffraction
- concrete walls
Abstract
This report describes radar measurements made on the FOI test range at Lilla Gåra, near Linköping, to demonstrate the possibility to detect moving objects around corners of realistic wall material, without direct sight. The material was in this case light concrete. The principle has been demonstrated in earlier measurements using corners of metal walls. For the present measurements, a simple model corner with a facing wall was arranged to mimic e.g. a street crossing. The target objects consisted of two radar reflectors (sphere and corner reflector) in addition to a human. This year's work has included analysis of the reflector measurements. The reflector targets were moved in a circular orbit on a turntable around its axis. The radar measurement was made by determination of the frequency spectrum of the radar return from the targets by frequency stepping over an interval, 9-11 GHz or, alternatively, 8.5-12.5 GHz. The signal processing has consisted of a double Fourier transformation of the received frequency spectrum. The first step inverts the frequency spectrum to a time or range profile of high resolution (7.5 or 3.75 cm), whereupon the second one produces a Doppler spectrum of the signal in each resolution cell. The measurements indicated that the return from an object behind the corner was detectable. Both target returns from diffraction (bending) around the corner and from multiple reflections in the opposite wall could be detected. As expected, the diffraction signals were considerably weaker than the returns from the multiple reflections. The difference with respect to metallic walls is that the concrete absorbs part of the radar wave and produces more diffuse scattering than metal. However, the targets are still easy to detect with the actual test geometry. Detection becomes possible by using the Doppler effect by integration of the radar return from a number of pulses (the second part of the above Fourier transform). A coherent system is required for this, with phase control, like the one used. As a rule, a single pulse return without this integration gave no reliable target detection. Knowledge of the target position and its movement was another condition for the detection result, since it makes optimal integration possible, which will not be the case, as a rule, in an operative situation, with unknown measurement parameters. Preliminary sample tests of the measurements of a moving human behind a corner have shown that the person produces a Doppler signal which is unambiguously detectable. In this case the same processing was used as for the reflectors, in addition to one based on change detection of the phase. Besides closer analysis of the measurements with the human, a suitable task for continuation of this work is the study of how to perform automatic Doppler processing for detection in an efficient way. A more realistic environment with real buildings will also be a natural step forward.