Improved discrimination of microwave vehicle profiles

The authors describe a combined FMCW (frequency modulated continuous wave) and Doppler radar system, which can separate traffic into five groups to accuracies of about 75% using length and height criteria. They discuss the possibility of increased determination using the more detailed profile information. In addition to the length and height data, it is possible to extract shape information for a vehicle. This shape has certain characteristics important for classification. It has been shown that the vertical face of vehicles such as buses can be identified and distinguished from other vehicles such as transit vans which have hoods or sloping fronts. Another important feature is the segmentation of the profile which occurs for trucks, which tend to have cabs and trailers, but not for buses, which are flat and continuous.<>