Radar-Based Velocity Estimation Using Three-Dimensional Cross-Correlation

This work presents a radar-based method to determine the velocity of objects that move perpendicular to the radar beams of two 77 GHz radar units. The radar modules are equipped with patch antenna arrays which can be poorly aligned with a known spacing in the direction of movement. Using pulse compression techniques and digital beamforming, the two-dimensional spectra of the acquired radar signals are calculated. By performing a three-dimensional cross-correlation to a series of these spectra, the delay in time as well as possible offsets due to the poor antenna alignment are estimated, allowing the average speed of the target to be determined. Experiments conducted under industrial conditions show that the proposed method is well suited to accurately determine the velocity of objects moving perpendicular to the radar beams.