Radar system on a large autonomous vehicle for personnel avoidance
Jerry L. Silvious, R.J. Wellman, Dave Tahmoush, John Clark · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2010
The US Army Research Laboratory designed, developed and tested a novel switched beam radar system operating at 76 GHz for use in a large autonomous vehicle to detect and identify roadway obstructions including slowly-moving personnel. This paper discusses the performance requirements for the system to operate in an early collision avoidance mode to a range of 150 meters and at speeds of over 20 m/s. We report the measured capabilities of the system to operate in these modes under various conditions, such as rural and urban environments, and on various terrains, such as asphalt and grass. Finally, we discuss the range-Doppler map processing capabilities that were developed to correct for platform motion and identify roadway vehicles and personnel moving at 1 m/s or more along the path of the system.