Pedestrian detection procedure integrated into an 24 GHz automotive radar

Driving a car is a dangerous task! There are about 5000 fatalities on German streets every year, which is absolutely too much. Human beings have strong limitations in the ability to measure precisely the distance and the speed difference between cars which is the reason for several accidents. Therefore some individual assistance is needed. A radar sensor measures the target range and radial velocity very accurate and with high resolution even in multiple target situations and there is tremendous progress in 24 GHz radar sensor development. The objective of this paper is to protect vulnerable road users by a target recognition scheme. Therefore, a pedestrian detection procedure is additionally integrated into the 24 GHz automotive radar sensor.