Abstract
We present a novel radar signal processing technique to identify the
presence or absence of a living body in a vehicle using a mm-wave
frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar. Unlike traditional detection
methods which are mostly based on constant false alarm rate (CFAR), our
proposed method extracts and monitors the consistent Doppler effect of
received signals from the radar antenna resulting from the consistent
breathing of living bodies over time. The proposed method works in all
types of cars without the need for threshold definition for tracking as
well as no need for training. Hence, the algorithm is more robust,
accurate and fast. We assess our proposed signal processing with two
phantoms mimicking the breathing of children and with adults in the
vehicle in various conditions. The system has been proven to be robust
in extensive studies over the course of multiple months.