Advantages
- Reliable localization in GPS-denied environments, including dense foliage, tunnels, and harsh weather
- Cost-effective and scalable architecture using radar repeaters instead of complex sensor arrays
- Autonomous self-localization without reliance on GNSS or external infrastructure
- Doppler-enabled motion awareness, enhancing path prediction and situational context
- Seamless integration into radar networks with minimal hardware or deployment effort.
Summary
Accurate localization is essential for autonomous systems, yet traditional technologies face significant limitations in GPS-denied or visually obstructed environments—such as tunnels, dense foliage, urban canyons, and adverse weather conditions. GNSS-based solutions, LiDAR, and vision systems are often ineffective or unreliable under these constraints, limiting their utility in defense, search and rescue, and remote navigation applications. There is a critical need for a localization solution that is both robust and infrastructure independent.
This technology has developed a radar-based self-localization technology that uses radar repeaters and backscattered signals to enable real-time localization in non-line-of-sight conditions. This innovative system leverages signal back projection to accurately estimate node position without relying on external infrastructure. The approach has been validated in controlled environments using conductive targets at 38 GHz. These experiments demonstrated consistent and reliable localization performance, confirming the system’s autonomous operation, resilience in cluttered environments, and seamless integration into existing radar networks. This positions the technology as a cost-effective and scalable alternative to conventional localization methods.
Node-Repeater localization utilizing the distributed repeater approach. The repeater location must be known order to perform imaging of the three trunks. In this work, we will backproject the repeater responses in order to identify the repeater location.
Desired Partnerships
- License
- Sponsored Research
- Co-Development