High resolution mapping of the environment with a ground-based radar imager

The aim of this paper is to show the potential of the microwave radar as a sensor dedicated to outdoor perception. A new radar sensor named K2PI, based on the principle of Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FM-CW) is presented here. An application in simultaneous localization and mapping using scan matching of radar images (R-SLAM algorithm) has been developed and first results in different environments are presented. Trajectories obtained by the R-Slam algorithm are compared with GPS positioning. The results show the ability of the microwave radar to build maps even in unstructured environment.