Lane-by-Lane Traffic Monitoring Using 24.1 GHz FMCW Radar System

In this article, we propose a method to monitor traffic on the road using a 24.1 GHz radar system. In our work, we design our own traffic monitoring radar system from radar hardware, such as antenna systems and the transceiver, to radar software, such as detection and tracking algorithms. The radar we developed uses frequency-modulated continuous waveforms with a center frequency of 24.1 GHz, and its range resolution is tens of centimeters, which is enough to distinguish vehicles in multiple lanes. In addition, we can effectively distinguish vehicles by estimating their angles using an array antenna system. To evaluate the performance of our radar, we install it on the pedestrian overpass facing the road. From actual measurement results, our radar system can reliably estimate the distance to the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle, and the angle of the vehicle for a total of four lanes up to 300 m in real time. The traffic monitoring system using a radar sensor can compensate for the disadvantages of the camera-based road monitoring method.