Range-Doppler Estimation for Gait-Detection with FMCW Radars in a Simulated Indoor Scenario

This paper discusses a MATLAB-based simulation model to mimic an indoor scenario and detect the presence of a human target behind an obstacle to enable range and velocity computation, verification with set parameters and rudimentary clutter rejection. Simulations, based on three frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radars with starting frequencies at 2, 24 and 77 GHz, are presented. The paper describes the simulation steps involved in determining the important FMCW radar parameters, the design of a three-dimensional human model as a radar target, and the data generation and signal processing steps needed to obtain the range-doppler maps for specific scenarios. A comparison of the observed range and Doppler information for all the three radars in an ideal scenario is presented. Further, non-idealities are added and their impact is studied for a 2 GHz radar in the presence of different types of obstacles. The work presented in this paper can be extended to build a complete simulation framework to study and understand the effect of the non-idealities of a radar system on human gait detection.