Environmental Mapping and Moving Object Detection Using Only an FMCW Radar on a Rotating Platform

Abstract

Nowadays, automation is increasingly introduced in industry and work environments. One vector of automation in warehouses, factories and ports is automatic guided vehicles (AGV). Nonetheless, their capabilities are limited in exterior environments due to their guidance systems being defeated by non- optimal weather. This thesis explores the use of a Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) radar sensor as an alternative to the current Lidar sensor in the guidance system. The objective is to place the sensor on rotating platform and reconstructing the environment solely based on the radar detections. Static and moving environment were studied. The FMCW radar’s capability to measure velocity made it possible to achieve both following intermediate steps: detecting moving targets in static envi- ronment and trajectory estimation for moving environments. The FMCW sensor on the rotating platform succeeded at both tasks evaluated: environmental mapping and trajectory estimation. While the quality of the results is insufficient for completely replacing the Lidar sensor, it is more than adequate to consider a combination of the two. This com- bination could extend AGV capabilities in exterior environments, with the radar backing the Lidar.