Radar signals dismount tracking for urban operations

It is critical in urban environments to not only track cars and tanks; but also individuals. Tracking dismounts, whereby an individual exits a car, can be done using conventional Electro-Optical (full color) or Infrared (thermal) cameras. However, EO/IR systems are subject to weather and line-of-sight conditions (i.e. person blocked by cloud) as well are degraded for long ranges. In this study, we pursue the use of radar images for dismount tracking. Radar dismount tracking will not entail the same robust features for person identification as EO systems; however, by being able to maintain track in all-weather conditions would afford friendly forces a location of all moving individuals. We show, using a feature-based tracker, that dismount detection, tracking, and potential intent, is possible. Radio Frequency (RF) tracking of dismounts is a relatively new concept because the data has not been available. By forming a data set based on the POSERTM program, and post-processing the data, we are interested in exploring the possibility of RF dismount tracking. In this paper, we (1) explore the generation of RF dismount data, (2) apply feature-based tracking algorithm to locate the moving target, and (3) assess the performance.

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