Performance analysis of a 60-GHz radar for indoor positioning and tracking

Among the manifold wireless technologies recently adopted for indoor localization and tracking, radars based on phased-array transceivers at 60 GHz are gaining momentum. The main advantages of this technology are: high accuracy, good ability to track multiple target with a low computation burden and preservation of privacy. Despite the growing commercial success of low-cost radar platforms, accurate studies to evaluate their tracking performance are not frequent in the literature, the main reasons being the commercial policies that prevent a direct access to the processed data and the difficult calibration of indoor positioning systems under dynamic conditions. This paper aims to fill this gap providing an extensive and scientifically sound performance analysis of one of these sensors (i.e., the System-onChip (SOC) TI IWR6843) and exposing benefits and limitations of 60-GHz mm-wave sensors for people localization and tracking. Multiple experimental results show that the average standard positioning uncertainty is about 30 cm under dynamic conditions. Our study also reveals the critical impact of three parameters, which are not properly documented by the manufacturer. Localization accuracy and robustness are also significantly affected by the risk of delayed and spurious detections. In the paper, a possible mitigation strategy of these anomalies is presented.