Experimental Object Localization using mmWave Beamforming Communication System

Abstract:
In this study, we concentrated on an experimental setup in an indoor scenario for a mmWave beamforming system to localize objects in a room. The system consists of the transmitter and receiver located apart. Both have beamforming functionality, resembling a bistatic radar for sensing. In contrast to previous work, the implemented approach for object localization at 60 GHz carrier frequency, explicitly calculates the potential reflectivity of intersection points of transmit- and receive-rays. The transmit- and receive-rays represent the digitized simulated antenna patterns of transmitter and receiver respectively. The algorithm uses the channel impulse responses of all combinations of transmit- and receive beams. The visualization of the results can be used for room reconstruction and digital twin implementation to facilitate fast beam switching and increase the wireless network capacity. The novelty of this method lies in using simulated antenna patterns to resolve the reflectivity of objects in the environment and mitigate the effects of the steering-vector dependent side lobes.