Experimental study of through-wall human detection by UWB radar with Hilbert Huang transform

Abstract

The detection of human targets hidden by walls or rubble, trapped in buildings is of interest for rescue, surveillance and security operations. In this paper, ultra-wideband (UWB) radar and its detection application are studied. Experiments on target detection of through-wall human being are carried out in two scenarios: through-gypsum-wall, and through-wooden-door, and the UWB radar used in these experiments is PulsOn 220 in monostatic mode. Detection of through-wall human beings with the UWB radar is based on movement detection - respiratory motions and movement of body parts. So Hilbert Huang Transform (HHT) is employed as the detection technique, and the breathing information of human target is contained in the third intrinsic mode function (IMF 3). The experimental results for human target detection behind gypsum wall and wooden door are separately demonstrated. © 2012 Springer Science+Business.