A Robust mmWave Radar Framework for Accurate People Counting and Motion Classification

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Authors: Nuobei Zhang, Haoxuan Li, Adnan Zahid, Yue Tian, Wenda Li
Cited by: 1
References: 18

Abstract

People counting and occupancy monitoring play a vital role in applications such as intelligent building management, safety control, and resource optimization in future smart cities. Conventional camera and infrared-based methods often suffer from privacy risks, lighting dependency, and limited robustness in complex indoor environments. In this paper, we present a 60 GHz millimeter-wave (mmWave) radar-based occupancy monitoring system that enables accurate and privacy-preserving people counting. The proposed system leverages echo signals processed through Doppler and range spectrogram and analyzed by an enhanced ResNet-50 deep learning model to classify motion states and count individuals. Experimental results collected in a typical indoor environment demonstrate that the system achieves 95.45% accuracy across 6 classes of movements and 98.86% accuracy for people counting (0-3 persons). The method also shows strong adaptability under limited data and robustness to Gaussian blur interference, providing an efficient and reliable solution for intelligent indoor occupancy monitoring.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Non-Invasive Vital Sign Monitoring Indoor and Outdoor Localization Technologies Gait Recognition and Analysis

Publication details

Journal / source
Sensors
Publisher
MDPI AG
Volume
26
Issue
4
Pages
1289–1289
Publication date
16 February 2026
Language
EN