UK design house Cambridge Consultants Ltd. (CCL) has announced that it has successfully demonstrated a radical new type of radar technology that can 'see through walls'. The radar, which operates in the 2GHz band, offers the ability to detect the location and movement, or even just breathing, of people inside buildings or beneath rubble.
The radar utilises a novel detection technology that can provide plan and elevation views of internal spaces, in a form that is optimized for portability. CCL now plans to turn its proof-of-concept demonstrator into products for military personnel and emergency services in situations such as sieges, urban warfare, fire and rescue.
The technology is derived from CCL's work in developing anti-collision radar for automobile safety applications, which led the company to devise a technique for sensing radar reflections that is extremely compact. The through-the-wall version of the system can be packaged in a battery-powered case that is around the size of a laptop computer.
"This radar delivers the kind of high-level location information that could really tip the balance in favour of rescuers in a broad range of time-critical situations, like the aftermath of an earthquake or explosion, or a hostage situation," notes CCL Associate Director, Gordon Oswald.
Positioned against a wall - or even some metres away - the system transmits wideband radar pulses in the 2GHz band that will pass through building materials up to 25cm thick, and detect objects and movement in the internal space. The return signal from the two-dimensional antenna array is fed to a processor that converts the information into three dimensions, allowing the radar to sense objects not only in a horizontal plane, but in elevation, too. This makes it possible to deliver meaningful views of what is happening inside a room or under ground.
In addition to creating a demonstration hardware unit, the technology consultancy has produced example software applications that display the data in user-friendly ways. These include plan and elevation views of internal spaces, using icons and colours to provide meaningful information on objects inside - showing whether they are static or moving, for example, and traces of movement. Multiple objects may be tracked, and additional information deduced including their dimensions, and whether they are upright or crawling.
The CCL through-wall radar system can be produced with a field of view of up to 120 degrees, and a range of between 5 and 10 metres.
The company now seeks to assemble a consortium of organisations interested in exploiting this technology in their operations.
