Multipath analysis of dismount radar responses

This work continues from our article published in RadarCon 2010 titled "Validating Multipath Responses of Moving Targets Through Urban Environments", where we describe the collection and analysis of multipath radar responses from vehicles passing in front of a two-story brick building at Wright-Patterson AFB. In May 2010 we performed a similar experiment that included line-of-sight (LOS) and multipath measurements of dismounts (humans) moving at various speeds and directions in front of the same two-story building. Examination of the data at X-band shows strong multipath responses of the dismounts from specular regions on the background wall, as well as from other structures present in the scene, e.g., a light pole and metal downspouts. Micro-motion analysis of the multipath signatures yields features similar to those extracted from the corresponding direct path responses, suggesting that dismounts could be characterized even when they are not in LOS of the radar. Furthermore, preliminary results show the potential to enhance dismount classification and localization when both direct path and multipath signatures are available.