Millimetre-wave radar technology could reduce road traffic accidents
An advanced radar technology for next generation traffic safety systems has developed that is said to be capable of detecting pedestrians and vehicles in a range of several tens of metres.
Panasonic's millimetre-wave radar technology is designed to enable traffic monitoring sensors at intersections to detect pedestrians and bicycles up to 40m ahead, even under bad weather conditions. It is expected to help increase automotive safety and reduce road accidents.
The radar system has a range resolution of less than 50cm, an angular resolution of 5° and can detect pedestrians and vehicles simultaneously, in spite of the fact that the human body reflects extremely weak radar signals compared to cars.
Two new element technologies were developed for the application, including a coded pulse modulation technique designed to improve sensitivity characteristics, and an adaptive antenna that combines radar beamforming transmission and adaptive array antenna reception with a signal processing algorithm for estimation of target direction.
This is optimised to achieve high angle resolution even with a smaller antenna compared with conventional one.
