RCS Patterns of Pedestrians at 76??77 GHz

76 GHz to 77 GHz vehicular radars are useful in pedestrian collision avoidance for their longer detection range, higher spatial resolution, and tolerances to different weather and illumination conditions. Such radars can be used to provide early warning to the driver, or to just take over the control of the vehicle in emergency conditions. In order to have a high detection rate and a low false-alarm rate, it is very important to identify unique pedestrian radar signatures. However, experimentally characterizing pedestrian radar signatures at such short wavelengths is very challenging and often not reliable, because the radar response becomes very sensitive to the pedestrian´s small motions. In this paper, the horizontal scattering patterns of pedestrians are investigated via both full-wave numerical model simulations, and actual measurements of human subjects of different sizes in different postures and clothing conditions. The contributions to the radar responses from different major body parts are also identified. The resultant radar cross section patterns exhibited unique features that could be used for pedestrian detection.