Human activity recognition using a low cost, COTS radar network

Wireless sensor networks have been a subject of much interest as a means for wide area surveillance. Typically, sensors such as acoustic, seismic, infrared, magnetic, and ultrasonic sensor have been employed to date. Radar, although possessing important advantages such as being able to operate in all weather conditions and nighttime, has not much been used in these systems due to their high power requirements, high cost, and large size. Recently, however, low-cost, COTS radar nodes have been developed that enable their application as part of a wireless surveillance network. In this work, the BumbleBee Radar developed by Samraksh Company is used as part of a wireless radar network to monitor the activities of a human moving within the sensing region of the network. The human micro-Doppler signature measured by the BumbleBee radar is shown for a variety of activities and used as a basis for recognition. Various schemes for fusing sensor data are explored.