See-around-corners with radar - Final report

Authors:

  • Stefan Nilsson
  • Magnus Gustavsson
  • Magnus Herberthson
  • Tommy Johansson
  • Anna Jänis
  • Jonas Rahm
  • Ain Sume
  • Anders Örbom

Publish date: 2009-12-31

Report number: FOI-R--2939--SE

Pages: 43

Written in: Swedish

Keywords:

  • See-around-corners
  • radar
  • Doppler
  • radar
  • diffraction
  • reflection
  • material

Abstract

This final report summarizes the activities and describes the most important results of the three-year strategic research project Radar for detection of human activity around corners. The aim of the project is a technical evaluation, by measurements and calculations, of the idea to use the bending (diffraction) of radar waves around corners and/or their reflection in opposite house walls and façades to detect moving objects off the line of sight. Both methods present the advantage of keeping one's own sensor system and soldier off the line of sight to the enemy and hence diminish the risk of detection and elimination. The basic idea of using the radar in this new manner has been launched by FOI and is of a pioneering nature. No corresponding work has been found in a conducted literature search. The FOI results have met with great interest when presented internationally. The concept also forms a specific work package in the NATO group Advancing Sensing Through the Walls Technologies, where FOI participates. The conclusion from the measurements carried out at Lilla Gåra with light concrete walls, shows that the Doppler signal from a human moving behind a corner is unquestionably detectable, both by using diffraction around the corner and multiple reflections in an opposite wall. Even small movements like breathing movements from a sitting person have been detected. Development has been started of an MTI-based detection method to enable automatic realtime identification of target tracks from moving objects behind corners. However, the method does not determine the position of the moving object but only the distance to the radar as a function of time along one or several propagation paths. In 2009 an investigation was commenced of the possibility to establish also the position of concealed moving objects behind corners. Preliminary results indicate that this is possible. If the position can be established with sufficient stability the possibility of also tracking moving objects presents itself. A condition for positioning and tracking of moving objects around the corner is that one has knowledge of the possible propagation paths of the radar wave in the scenario at hand. A possible method of determining these pathways has been developed. In order to establish knowledge about how house walls and façades reflect radar waves, dedicated measurements have been carried out showing how the reflection is influenced by the incidence angle, frequency and polarization. Clear interference patterns were observed for homogeneous material samples. For inhomogeneous materials or for materials with rough surfaces the interference patterns were perturbed. Measurements have also been carried out to investigate how different types of surface roughness influence the reflection properties. The results show that the reflection is concentrated to the specular direction when the roughness is small compared to the wavelength. Also the choice of polarization is important if the surface contains preference directions. Furthermore, the transmission and reflection have been measured for light concrete as a function of moisture content. In parallel to the experimental work corresponding calculations have also been carried out.