A VEHICLE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM BASED ON MICROWAVE RADAR MEASUREMENT OF
HEIGHT PROFILES
I R Urazghildiiev’, R Ragnarsson’, K Wallin’, A Rydhergl, P Ridderstrom*, E Ojefors’
‘Uppsala University, Sweden, *Sensys Traffic AB, Sweden
INTRODUCTION
Accurate classification of .vehicles is becoming an
important requirement for a number of traffic
applications. Planners require information about the
types and numbers of vehicles along different roads; if
possible the traffic data should he collected without the
need for extensive installations. Highway tolling
systems use a toll structure with different fees
depending on vehicle type; hence access to automatic
vehicle type classification systems allows enforcement
of correct toll payments. Other applications may include
vehicle categorisation for traffic legislation and
regulations, safety studies, design and performance for
road pavements and bridges, traffic capacity and
operations and parking system design (see Taylor and
Young (1)).
The main design requirements for a modem
classification system can he formulated as follows: high
accuracy of vehicle speed and position estimation; high
probability of correct vehicle classification; a flexible
classification scheme allowing the number of classes to
he altered; high performance also under had weather
and light conditions; high performance also when traffic
is heavy or without lane discipline; ability to cope with
stopping vehicles; low cost, size and weight. In
addition, ease of installation and low maintenance cnsts
are desirable features.
Existing classification systems hascd on inductive loop
detectors ((I), Gaida et al (2)), laser sensors (Shiquan
and Harlow (3). Abdelbaki et al (4)). video cameras
(Chunruiand and Siyal ( 5 ) , Burden’ and Bell (6)), and
radar (Roe and Hobson (71, Walton et a1 (8)) do
not satisfy all of the above design requirements. This
leaves the field open for new.designs.
In this paper, we consider a new system for
classification of vehicles. The proposed system uses the
vehicle shape as measured by a microwave radar Sensor
as the main feature for classification. The sensor iS
mounted above the road surface (perpendicular to the
ground plane), so that vehicles pass vertically below the
sensor. The surface of a typical vehicle can he
approximated as a finite number of planes, most of
which (such as roof, bonnet and are
parallel to the ground plane. When a narrow radar heam
from the illuminates the vehicle from ahove, all
the relevant scatterers on the vehicle surface are at
approximately the same distance to the antenna and they
0 2002 T h e Institution of Electrical Engineers.
Printed and niihliahd hv the IFF Smrn,, D12r,= I nnrlr.n 1 A r P l D
can be lumped together as one dominant scatterer.
Using signal correlation techniques, a high-resolution
measurement of the sensor-vehicle distance is
repeatedly performed during vehicle passage through
the vertical radar beam. This time series of distance
estimates forms the vehicle radar image a,which is used
to create the vehicle feature vector to he used as input to
the vehicle classification algorithm.
CLASSIFICATION OF VEHICLES BASED ON
HIGH PROFILE MEASUREMENTS
Classification Algorithm
The problem of vehicle classification can be formulated
as taking a vehicle image a and mapping from the image
a to one of the vehicle classes Ci,...,C,,, . Our proposed
classification algorithm is based on a number of
assumptions:
A l : Every vehicle is completely specified by its
geometric shape, and no two vehicles exist that have the
same shape, while belonging to different classes.
A2: The geometric shape of a vehicle is described by
the vehicle height profile, h = [hl . . . h , ] ~R L . In this
vector, h, is the vehicle height taken at the point iA
along vehicle length and A is the sampling interval.
A3: The profiles of all the vehicle types of interest are
known beforehand.
Thus, the profile is a complete IePresentation the
shape Of a particular Of vehicle. However, for
reasons that will he explained later, it is useful to
introduce the additional parameters b, ,..., bQ to the
representation of a vehicle type. These parameters could
he, for example, the vehicle height h = man{h} and the
vehicle length 1. Thus, a that represents the !&
,
vehicle type ofinterestis
pk =[b,,... bP.h:pE R P , k = l ...K , (1)
where p = Q + L is the of vehicle parameters
used; K is the number of different vehicle types to he
classified; and the symbol (.ydenotes transpose. We
no1 I I”

call the vector p a pattern of a vehicle type and denote
the full set of vehicle patterns as U , = ( P I . . . p K } .
It is further assumed, that A4 classes of vehicles,
Cl,...,CM, exist and that every class C, consists of
K,>O vehicle type patterns
{P,,, ... P , + K , )E c, , rn = 1...M .
so that Zf=,(K,)=K
Our proposed vehicle classification algorithm consists
of the following steps (Nearest Neighbour approach):
1) Obtain the image a of a current vehicle from the
sensor.
2) Extract of a feature vector F by estimation of
vehicle the parameters
3) Calculate the distances dk = d(F,pk),p,E U,,
k=I...K,where the metric &,pi) specifies the
distance between two points with coordinatesp; and pi in
parameter space RP .
4) Find the minimum distance
d,;, = mind,
k
and the corresponding pattern p, minimizing the
distance (4). The number E of class C, to which the
pattern pn belongs is accepted as the vehicle class
estimate.
Radar Image Pre-Processing
For a given vehicle, the image a can be represented as a
vectora =[al...aNrE R N with components
a, = h , + & , , n = l ...N ,
where h, is the real height of the vehicle, F , is the
measurement error, and N is the number of samples
obtained for the vehicle. Due to the presence of errors
E, and variations in the number of samples of vehicle
height in (9,the image a cannot immediately he used
for classification. The pre-processing step consists of
error filtering and subsequent extraction of the feature
vector (3).
410
The choice of the image filtering algorithms is based on
the statistical properties of the measurement errors E .
These errors depend on a large number of factors, such
as antenna beam width, transmitted signal power and
bandwidth, receiver noise level, radar cross-section of
the vehicle surface, etc. The results of field trials with a
24 GHz radar sensor (detailed below) show that the
measurement errors E are characterized by a random
(2) process that is neither Gaussian nor stationary. The
greater part of the large errors occurs when the
amplitude of the reflected signal is low. This kind of
errors (called anomalous errors) leads to significant
outliers in height profile estimates and strongly
influences the estimation accuracy. To suppress this
kind of errors, we performed median filtering of the
height estimates in the radar image (Pratt (9)).
Next, the estimate of the vehicle height profile
; = ~ ( U ) E R L is obtained by reduction of the
dimension of a E R N . It is assumed, that the number of
height measurements N is much greater than the
dimension of vehicle type profiles L , i.e. that N >> L .
Then the height profile estimate can be obtained by
dividing the filtered image U into L (possibly
overlapping) segments consisting of W 2 [ N / L ]
samples each. Next, for every ith segment the mean
value is calculated, which is used as the ith estimate of
the height profile:
(4) where k, is the left border of the ith segment in terms of
the image sample number. Note that after suppression of
anomalous errors, the distribution of the remaining
errors is close to Gaussian. Thcrcfore, the averaging ( 6 )
leads to increased accuracy of the vehicle height profile
estimate.
Finally, the parameters kl...&}=
f ( u ) are estimated.
Among the additional parameters that can be extracted
from the image i , the most important is the height h of
the vehicle. For the majority of vehicles, the height is
measured as the distance from the road surface to the
roof of the vehicle and an estimate is obtained by
(5) choosing as the vehicle height the maximum height
obtained after median filtering of the vehicle height
profile. Furthermore, some major vehicle types, such as
passenger cars, minivans, vans and lorries, typically
have almost non-overlapping vehicle heights, which
simplifies the classification.
The length of the vehicle is another important
parameter. It estimated by combining vehicle velocity
measurements from a Doppler radar sensor with the
vehicle height profile.
Metric for Assignment into Classes
Step 3) of the classification algorithm requires the
choice of an appropriate metric & ; , p i ) . The metric
can be chosen quite freely, but the basic requirement 'is
that it has to ensure maximum distances between
patterns belonging to different classes. We use as the
metric the following weighted vector norm
where W = diag{w, ...w , } ~RhP is a positive diagonal
weighted matrix. Since the accuracy and relative
"importance" of the different parameters'in the feature
vector ii are different. different weiehts w,..k = l...P
can be' used, For all height profile
estimates can be taken with the Same weights
W p = W p = l / L , i = l...L. The vehicle height and
length estimates are more valuable for the classification.
Therefore the length w' and height wh weights can be
taken as w'>d and d>w". When only the height and
length are used in addition to the vehicle height profile,
the metric (7) takes the form
It is easy to see, that if the assumptions ALA3 hold
true, for the metrics (7), (8) we have
d ( p j , p j ) = Oifandonlyif pi = p j .
During classification of vehicles, the situation occurs
that the metric d(jj,pj)>O for all p i ~ U P This. is
due to measurement errors as well as noncoincidence of
the feature vector 3 with all of the patterns PE U,.
Moreover, the template pi that minimizes the metrics
di,i = I...K, can belong to another class pi E C, than
the vehicle profile i~ C,. Denoting the minimum
value of metric d ( F , p ) , p E C, in class. C, as
-
db,,(p)
") - m i n d ( F , p ) , then the probability of
P C"
misclassification of the feature vector FEC,
positive value
This probability of vehicle misclassification can be
minimised by increasing the accuracy of the height
profile estimation and by extending the template library.
High probability of correct classification is reached
when the conditions
MICROWAVE RADAR SENSOR
Joint development by Sensys Traffic AB and Uppsala
University has resulted in a microwave radar sensor
suitable for obtaining high-resolution vehicle height
profiles. This section covers some hardware aspects of
this sensor.
For traffic measurements, the radar is mounted 5.25m -
7.5m vertically above the plane of the road surface.
Typically, the underside of a bridge or a gantry serves
as the mounting point for the hardware, A
transmitted signal with pseudo-random phase
modulation is used to ensure low dependence on the
Doppler shift of the signal spectrum, cancellation of
interference, as well as to provide waveform flexibility.
The radar sensor, Fig. 1, consists of a number of parts: a
pseudo random binary sequence (PRBS) generator, a
radio frequency (RF) unit, antennas, and a correlator.
The PRBS-generator produces a pseudo-random binary
sequence of binary states, each 13ns long. This
sequence is used to modulate the radio signal generated
in the RF unit. The resulting modulated signal is
transmitted from a separate transmitter antenna directed
down towards the road surface. The received signal is
amplified before being split and demodulated to obtain
(9) the I and Q channels. In the correlator, the demodulated
signals are compared to a time-delayed binary sequence
from the PRBS-generator in order to determine the
round-trip time (transmitter-target-receiver) of the
transmitted signal. From the round-trip time, the sensor-
target distance is determined with a resolution of
*0.12m for a single measurement. When no vehicle is
present, an echo from the road surface is received,
which provides a baseline for vehicle height
measurements.
The radar operates at a frequency of 24.15 GHz with
beam widths of 8" (along the traffic flow) x 24"
(transverse to the traffic flow), a bandwidth of 200MH2,
and a transmitted power of less than IOOmW EIRP. The
frequency of height measurements is 1160Hz, thus the
is a height of a 5m long car travelling at S o d s (ISOkdh) is
sampled at 125 different locations along the length of
the vehicle. This example shows that a detailed vehiclc
height profile is obtained also at high vehicle speeds.
 412
Fig.1. Block-diagram of the microwave radar sensor
FIELD TRIAL RESULTS
In order to test the performance of the proposed
approach to vehicle classification, a test-bed system has
been developed. This test-bed system consists of the
microwave radar sensor described above, as well as a
PC on which the signal processing algorithms have been
implemented. Two examples of the height profile
estimates obtained with this test-bed system are shown
in Fig. 2 and 3. The figures show typical matching
photographic pictures and vehicle profiles obtained for a
car with a trailer and a lorry, respectively. From these
figures, it is clear that the measurement errors are much
smaller than the typical dimensions of the vehicles.
When measuring the height profile sections
corresponding to the flat surfaces of the vehicles (e.g.
vehicle's roof), the estimation accuracy is very high. As
a result, a high probability of correct vehicle
classification is achieved.
In order to estimate the empirical probability of correct
classification of vehicles, statistical experiments have
been carried out. In these experiments, the vehicles were
separated into the following classes: motorcycle, car,
car with trailer, van, van with trailer, bus, lorry and lorry
with trailer. The radar sensor was mounted on a bridge
(mounting height 5.4 m) overlooking a motorway with
free flow traffic: Classification of vehicles was then
carried out with (w'=l) and without ( ~ " 0 ) making use
the information about a given vehicle's length (from
vehicle speed measurements). The values of the other
weights were w*=l and d=0,02. The number of
vehicles to be classified NY as well as empirical
probability of correct classification PCc are presented in
Tab. 1.
The field trial results show, that using the information
ahout vehicle length increases the performance of the
classification algorithm. Major improvements are found
in the classification of van and lorries that are
characterized by similar heights but differ in length.
pcc
* Note sample size
Therefore, vehicle velocity estimates, if acceptable, can
he used in the classification algorithms. However, high
probability of correct classification is reached evcn
without the information about length. This leads us to
believe that a high probability of correct classification
can be achieved also in stop-go traffic, when no velocity
information is available.
The main cause of vehicle misclassification is the low
performance of height profile estimation for vehicles
that do not pass directly below the sensor. In this
situation, the presence of a vehicle on the road was
detected, but the vehicle height profile estimate was
disturbed by the presence of a strong ground echo. This
problem can he eliminated by installing additional the
radar sensors overlooking the demarcations between
lanes.
CONCLUSION
A new vehicle classification system has been
considered. The system is based on the use of vehicle
height profiles as the basic characteristic of vehicles.
The main advantages of the proposed classification
system are high classification accuracy, possibility to
classify a theoretically unlimited number of vehicle
types, high performance under most weather and
illumination conditions, as well as low weight, size and
cost. As the classification process makes moderate
demands on computational capacity, real-time operation
can be achieved with low-cost hardware. The system
has also proven to he capable of performing
classification during stop-and-go situations, thus further
enhancing its value for tolling applications. Further
development of the system is expected to be performed
in the areas of optimising the antenna beam pattern,
increasing the size and accuracy of the template library,
and in improvement of the signal processing algorithms.
The proposed classification system is intended primarily
for toll-collection applications, hut suitable also for
other vehicle classification applications.
 413

Height Profile
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Height Profile
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3

F 25
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5 15
1

05
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0.51 ’ I 4.51 ” ” ’ ” ‘ 1
1w MO 300 4c? 5w 600 7w 8w 100 MO 300 m 5w WO 7w WO
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Fig.2, (b) Fig.3, (b)

Fig. 2,3. Vehicle pichues (a) and corresponding vehicle
height profiles (b). Profiles are shown as obtained from
the sensor (before pre-processing).
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