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Thursday, November 14, 2024
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Presenter: David Hunt is a 3rd year ECE PhD student at Duke University in Dr. Miroslav Pajic's Cyber-Physical Systems Laboratory (CPSL).
Manned and unmanned autonomous platforms are increasingly prevalent across sectors such as advanced driver assistance systems, consumer robotics, emergency response, and defense. A fundamental requirement for these systems is accurate sensing for obstacle detection, agent localization, and reliable navigation. Traditionally, cameras and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors are widely used; however, both have limitations. Cameras, although affordable, struggle in low-light conditions and have limited sensing ranges. LiDAR sensors provide high-resolution data but are heavy, power-intensive, and costly.
By contrast, millimeter wave (mmWave) radio detection and ranging (radar) sensors offer a balanced solution. They are affordable, lightweight, effective in low-light and visually obstructed environments, and capable of measuring object velocity. The latest mmWave radars, operating in the 76-77 GHz and 77-81 GHz bands, achieve excellent range and velocity resolution while maintaining a compact footprint. Still, integrating mmWave radars into autonomous platforms presents challenges. These include limited angular resolution and significant false detections due to multipath effects.
This talk will present my current and future research on overcoming these challenges to leverage mmWave FMCW radar for secure sensing, precise localization, and reliable navigation in autonomous systems. Additionally, I will highlight how I am particularly focused on affordable, resource-constrained platforms operating in the automotive and consumer robotics sectors. Finally, I will also introduce the real-time prototype platforms that I have developed over the past 2.5 years to demonstrate the feasibility of my techniques and open the door for potential future collaborations!
