Evaluation of a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave Doppler Radar for Proximity Sensing

Abstract

This paper presents the implementations and evaluation of a low cost 2.45 GHz Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) Doppler radar system for proximity sensing applications. The radar platform supports Doppler Time Intensity (DTI), Range Time Intensity (RTI) and the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging modes. MATLAB is used for the post processing including data acquisitions, signal processing and visualizations. The radar is intended to be used partially for the moving-object detection system that is currently still under development for our homegrown automated driver assistant system (ADAS). The approach is superior compared to other sensing technique such as infrared and ultrasonic which easily interfered by environment factors such as dust and acoustic distractions. Experimental results show that the proposed radar system can reliably detect motion with object speed between 0.15m/s (0.5 km/h) and 8.82 m/s (30 km/h). The system can estimate distance accurately and generate two-dimensional SAR images for object presence of less than 10 meter. The study demonstrates the potential of a compact FMCW radar system as practical and economical alternatives to conventional high-cost radar platforms for educational and experimental applications.