Radar-based target tracker

A method comprising:

• determining whether motion is detected on a per-bin basis for a sequence of range-Doppler images generated by a millimeter-wave radar sensor, wherein the range-Doppler images are representative of a scene;
• summing a number of determined motion detections on a per-bin basis for a first number of range-Doppler images of the sequence of range-Doppler images to produce summed motion detections;
• filtering periodically moving objects in the scene in real time comprising:
• determining per-bin moving averages for the summed motion detections,
• comparing each per-bin moving average of the per-bin moving averages to a threshold, and
• suppressing bins in a range-Doppler image of the sequence of range-Doppler images to produce a modified range-Doppler image, the suppressed bins corresponding to bins in the range-Doppler image whose moving average exceeds the threshold;
• and
• detecting motion based on the modified range-Doppler image, wherein the motion is detected using motion data from range and Doppler bins in the modified range-Doppler image that have moving averages below the threshold.

A system comprising:

• a radar signal processor configured to be coupled to a millimeter-wave radar sensor, the radar signal processor configured to:
• receive a radar signal from the millimeter-wave radar sensor,
• generate a sequence of range-Doppler images based on the received radar signal, wherein the range-Doppler images are representative of a scene;
• determine whether motion is detected on a per-bin basis for the sequence of range-Doppler images,
• sum a number of determined motion detections on a per-bin basis for a first number of range-Doppler images of the sequence of range-Doppler images to produce summed motion detections,
• filter periodically moving objects in the scene in real time by:
• determining per-bin moving averages for the summed motion detections,
• comparing each per-bin moving average of the per-bin moving averages to a threshold, and
• suppressing bins in a range-Doppler image of the sequence of range-Doppler images to produce a modified range-Doppler image, the suppressed bins corresponding to bins in the range-Doppler image whose moving average exceeds the threshold;
• and
• detect motion based on the modified range-Doppler image, wherein the motion is detected using motion data from range and Doppler bins in the modified range-Doppler image that have moving averages below the threshold.