Methods and systems for improving target detection performance of an indoor radar sensor

Abstract

A computer assisted method for processing output from a mmWave sensor to derive a more reliable count of people in a room, zone or space being monitored by the sensor. In some examples, damping is applied to a varying 'people count' signal from the sensor. The damping reduces volatility of the people count and avoids counting anomalous false positive detections. When the people count value decreases, damping may be applied more heavily to disregard intermittent false negatives where the sensor momentarily fails to detect an actual person. In some examples, the mmWave sensor provides point clouds representing the approximate shape and location of detected apparent objects, some of which may be people. Some example methods define digital targets corresponding to the point clouds. The targets are deemed to represent real people if the objects and their corresponding targets have sufficient lifespan and exhibit movement within a predetermined normal range.