Easy Integration of Radar Technology

In this expert interview, Dr Eva Maria Buchkremer describes how Innosent resolves a customer challenge and sets new standards with advanced technology.

In recent years, Innosent, a developer and manufacturer of radar sensors, has brought innovative solutions for the security sector to the market. Nevertheless, the demand for integration possibilities in existing systems is increasing. Simple solutions are needed. As a product manager, Dr Eva Maria Buchkremer was involved in the development of new radar systems and knows about the challenges faced by customers. Now, she’s answering GIT SECURITY’s questions.

GIT SECURITY: After the successful marketing of the iSYS-5010, Innosent devoted itself to a new project for the field of security. What drove you to develop this product? Where did the idea come from?
Eva Maria Buchkremer: Through our regular customer survey, we learned about an important concern of one of our customers. He wanted to integrate radar technology into his product, but it posed a major challenge for him. Not every security equipment manufacturer has the necessary competence and experience to deploy sensor systems within their own company. Radar is very complex and there are not many experts who are familiar with its integration and signal processing. Many companies therefore rely on further support. Since the demand for this technology is on the rise, we saw the urgent need to act in order to improve the situation.
The advantages of our successful security systems should be available to everyone. In other words, we addressed our customers’ issue and developed products that make system integration easier. Innosent is taking an important step towards final application for our customers and facilitating access to radar.

For which area of application have the ­products been developed?
Eva Maria Buchkremer: The systems are intended for commercial use of the security sector and are aimed at security equipment manufacturers who wish to combine radar with their own equipment, such as cameras or an alarm system. The radar systems help to significantly reduce false alarms and boost the efficiency of security surveillance. The addition of a radar system compensates for disadvantages such as lacking image transmission due to bad weather or vandalism.
Radar is particularly well-suited for outdoor use. After all, these sensor systems work flawlessly and monitor a very large coverage area even under bad lighting or weather conditions. A foggy stretch of land or dusty, dirty terrain is no challenge.
The products are appealing not only for use in traditional perimeter surveillance in open spaces. They are also fine-tuned for use in a built-up, industrial area. The systems are optimised for monitoring moving objects. They possess a wind and rain filter and users can mask areas. If desired, the radar detection can simply ignore areas outside of a fenced area, such as a street or pavement. In addition, the end user can define alarm zones and use the radar sensor system to trigger an action – for example, controlling a camera or activating an alarm. Radar also serves as an anonymous security technology, thus ensuring privacy protection. Use in public places or at company premises is thus possible.

You already mentioned that the new products facilitate the integration of radar. How did you achieve this?
Eva Maria Buchkremer: We have developed a real highlight for the industry: The tracking function. This feature takes on a large part of the necessary assessment of radar data. Through the tracking license, customers benefit from extensive data signal processing. Without the Smart Tracker, the system provides numerous detections that the customer has to evaluate and categorise themselves. For correct evaluation, he has to be very familiar with the effects of the technology. With our Smart Tracker, we achieve a new level of system integration and reduce the entry hurdles into radar technology. Customers can utilise radar technology and integrate it into their products with little effort. The tracking provides information about the movement behaviour of the detected objects, which is particularly useful for the security sector.

Why is the tracking helpful?
Eva Maria Buchkremer: The tracker combines individual radar detections into objects. This clustering enables objects to be tracked over time. Looking at the history, precise statements can be made about the behaviour of the object. In addition to a clearly illustrated path, also referred to as a track, the function is important for reliable locating. Thanks to the tracker, the radar system detects when a person has changed directions. The function also features the option to briefly pause the course of a track. This is convenient if a person stops moving for a short moment or changes postures. The track is not lost, and the detections are correctly assigned to the same object.

What technical features do the new radar systems have?
Eva Maria Buchkremer: The radars provide safety-­relevant information such as the speed, direction of movement, distance, and position of moving objects. Their performance and precision clearly stand out in the field of security. Our new products employ advanced 24-GHz MIMOI technology. They also offer an angular resolution additional to speed and range resolution. We oriented the characteristics specifically on the industry’s requirements and emphasise compliance with FCC and ETSI certification standards. A filter prevents noise from wind and rain. Very precise differentiation is made between such object classes as vehicles and persons.

You already mentioned the growing interest in radar sensor systems. Even renowned ­security equipment manufacturers seem to be taking a look at radar. Is this a new trend?
Eva Maria Buchkremer: Due to the many advantages in comparison to other technologies, demand is on the rise in the security sector. Radar is not a short-lived trend. Thanks to further technological development, radar offers an increasing number of applications for the market. Radar sensor systems used to be very expensive and were considered too complicated, lending themselves only to larger-scale projects or certain sectors, such as air and ship traffic. Today, the technology has taken hold in our everyday lives. We are supporting this development with well-engineered and cost-effective products. The application possibilities are continuing to be developed and have a long way to go. Perhaps the technological fusion with radar will soon become standard.

What other projects for security or further developments of the product are in store at Innosent?
Eva Maria Buchkremer: Generally, the continuous optimisation of our products and innovation are crucial to Innosent. We are considering to further expand the security area, and we see a lot of potential for our technology. For example, solutions for near-range surveillance and very long-distance detections are conceivable. But, of course, we are also utilising our expertise for ideas relating to other or related markets. In our development department, things are never quiet.