Forward scatter radar for detection of moving people inside buildings

Through-wall radar offers capabilities that allow an important contribution to inside-building awareness, such as target detection and tracking. However, reliable radar tracking of people inside a building is not a trivial task. In monostatic operation, radar measures the backscatter from people inside a building. The backscatter of people is however relatively low and may be easily concealed by backscatter from building features or furniture. The Forward Scatter Radar concept discussed in this paper exploits the forward scatter of people. The forward scatter of objects is typically much larger than their backscatter; for humans the forward scatter may be a factor 20 higher than the backscatter. The current study shows that reliable and consistent detection of people on the basis of their forward scatter is feasible even in relatively difficult through-building scenarios.