Multistatic micro-doppler radar for determining target orientation and activity classification

Micro-Doppler radar signals can be used to separate moving human targets from stationary clutter and also to identify and classify human movements. Traditional micro-Doppler radar, which uses a single-sensor, monostatic system, suffers from the drawback that only the radial component of the micro-Doppler signal will be observed by the radar operator. This reduces the sensitivity of human-activity recognition if the movements are not directly toward or away from the line of sight to the radar antenna. In this paper, we propose overcoming this limitation through the use of a multistatic sensor, which consists of two bistatic micro-Doppler sensors. Through using multiple sensors, the orientation of oscillating targets with respect to the radar line of sight can be inferred, thereby providing additional information to the radar operator. In addition, we conclude that multiple sensors can enhance the classification of micro-Doppler signatures.