Automatic through the wall detection of moving targets using low-frequency ultra-wideband radar

Abstract

This paper presents a time-domain, Moving Target Indication (MTI) processing formulation for detecting slowmoving personnel behind walls. The proposed time-domain MTI processing formulation consists of change detection and automatic target recognition algorithms. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the MTI processing formulation using data collected by an impulse-based, low-frequency, ultra-wideband radar. In this paper, we describe our radar system and algorithms used for the automatic detection of moving personnel. We also analyze the false alarm and detection rate of four operational scenarios of personnel walking inside wood and cinderblock buildings.

Multipath Exploitation in Non-LOS Urban Synthetic Aperture Radar

“…It is noted however that this clutter is mapped to locations which are well within the direct LOS view of the radar, and hence may be easily discounted from the CFAR detections. It must be noted that the CFAR uses local statistics for adapting its threshold and hence at the edges of the images, it performs poorly as seen here, as well as pointed out in the literature [31].…”

“…After CFAR detection, dilation followed by erosion were carried out on the binary images [29], [30], to first retain clusters which should have been connected, and then locally erode clusters which are spatially far away [31]. These operations after raw CFAR detection are common and have been used in practical implementations in SAR CFAR detectors, see also [31], [32] and references therein for more details. The CFAR kernel is shown in Fig.…”

Coherent and non-coherent change detection for through the wall sensing of moving targets

“…The radar is position 38° off the broadside position. The off-broadside angle was selected in an attempt to reduce imaging artifacts present in the change detection images due to large reflections from the wall [4]. Two pairs of images are shown in Figure 10.…”

“…An analysis of the MT signature was conducted in previous research to determine false alarm and detection rates of 4 operational scenarios of personnel walking inside wood and cinderblock buildings [4]. Constant false alarm rate (CFAR) and morphological processing were used in addition to change detection.…”

Sidelobe Suppression Featuring the Phase Coherence Factor in 3-D Through-the-Wall Radar Imaging

“…However, the residual clutter still exists due to the grating/side lobe artifact [8]. This is in addition to other inherent artifacts like wall reflection [7], and the multipath scattering [9]. Therefore suppressing the grating and side lobes will bring significant enhancement to the performance of a CD based MTI.…”