Low-cost low-power in-vehicle occupant detection with mm-wave FMCW radar

In this paper, we use a low-cost low-power mm-wave frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar for the in-vehicle occupant detection. We propose an algorithm using Capon filter for the joint range-azimuth estimation. Then, the minimum necessary features are extracted to train machine learning classifiers to have reasonable computational complexity while achieving high accuracy. In addition, experiments were carried out in a minivan to detect occupancy of each row using support vector machine (SVM). Finally, our proposed system achieved 97.8% accuracy on average in finding the defined scenarios. Moreover, the system can correctly identify if the vehicle is occupied or not with 100% accuracy

Circuit-Theoretic Physics-Based Antenna Synthesis and Design Techniques for Next-Generation Wireless Devices

Performance levels expected from future-generation wireless networks and sensor systems are beyond the capabilities of current radio technologies. To realize information capacities much higher than those achievable through existing time and/or frequency coding techniques, an antenna system must exploit the spatial characteristics of the medium in an intelligent and adaptive manner. This means that such system needs to incorporate integrated multi-element antennas with controlled and adjustable performances. The antenna configuration should also be highly miniaturized and integrated with circuits around it in order to meet the rigorous requirements of size, weight, and cost. A solid understanding of the underlying physics of the antenna function is, and has always been, the key to a successful design. In a typical antenna design process, the designer starts with a simple conceptual model, based on a given volume/space to be occupied by the antenna. The design cycle is completed by the antenna performing its function over a range of frequencies in some complex scenarios, i.e., packaged into a compact device, handled in different operational environments, and possibly implanted inside a human/animal body. From the conceptual model to the actual working device, a large variety of design approaches and steps exist. These approaches may be viewed as simulation-driven steps, experimental-based ones, or a hybrid of both. In any of these approaches, a typical design involves a large amount of parametric/optimization steps. It is no wonder, then, that due to the many uncertainties and ‘unknowns’ in the antenna problem, a final working design is usually an evolved version of an initial implementation that comes to fruition only after a considerable amount of effort and time spent on “unsuccessful” prototypes. In general, the circuit/filter community has enjoyed a better design experience than that of the antenna community. Designing a filter network to meet specific bandwidth and insertion loss is a fairly well-defined procedure, from the conceptual stages to the actual realization. In view of the aforementioned, this work focuses on attempting to unveil some of the uncertainties associated with the general antenna design problem through adapting key features from the circuit/filter theory. Some of the adapted features include a group delay method for the design of antennas with a pre-defined impedance bandwidth, inverter-based modeling for the synthesis of small-sized wideband antennas, and an Eigen-based technique to realize multi-band/multi-feed antennas, tunable antennas, and high sensitivity sensor antennas. By utilizing the proposed approaches in the context of this research, the design cycle for practical antennas should be significantly simplified along with various physical limitations clarified, all of which translates to reduced time, effort, and cost in product development.4 month

Remote Sensing of Blood Glucose Level Using an FMCW Radar Sensor

A novel sensing approach is presented for glucose levelmonitoring where a robust low-power millimeter(mm)-waveradar system is used to non-invasively differentiate betweenblood samples of glucose concentrations in the diabetes rangethrough detecting minute changes in their dielectric properties.The processed results have indicated the reliability of using mm-wave radars in identifying changes of blood glucose levels whilemonitoring trends among those variations. Particularly, bloodsamples of higher glucose concentrations are correlated withreflected mm-wave signals of greater energy. The proposedsystem could likely be adapted as a portable non-invasivecontinuous blood glucose levels monitoring for daily use bydiabetic patients

On the Use of Low-Cost Radars and Machine Learning for In-Vehicle Passenger Detection

In this paper, we use a low-cost low-power mm-wave frequencymodulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar for in-vehicle occupantmonitoring. We propose an algorithm to identify occupied seats. In-stead of using a high-resolution radar which increases the cost andarea, we integrate machine learning algorithms with the results ofcovariance-based angle of arrival estimation capon beamformer

Integration of Random Forests and MM-Wave FMCW Radar Technology for Gait Recognition

Technologies that identify and monitor walking, and other charac-teristics could support detection, evaluation, and monitoring of pa-rameters related to changes in mobility, cognition, and frailty. Inte-grating with a Random Forests classifier, we develop an ultrahigh-frequency FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave) radarsensor that can distinguish walking from other activities