Creating a Detection Area

Owned by Isabelle Avery (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jul 13, 2022 by Charlotte Dakin-Norris
6 min read

Introduction

Detection Areas are where you want the radars to look for targets. You can define one or more areas and apply tracking parameters to optimise the detection of people or objects within those areas. You can also over-lay one or more areas to create exclusion and partial tracking areas. You can add as many detection areas as you need, they do not need to be adjacent and using multiple areas provides the benefit of using custom detection settings in each area. This can help when fine tuning the system to get the optimal detection performance with minimal false alarms.

The creation of new Detection Areas is generally achieved in two stages:

  1. Create rough initial outlines for the Detection Area(s).

  2. Use live radar data to fine tune the area outline according to how the radar sees the surrounding environment. For example the radar can see trees, hedges and buildings. So you can use this information to ensure your detection area is optimal for your site.

Remember that all Navtech radars offers centimetre accuracy so you can refine the placement of your detection areas to the same accuracy.

Contents

Creating a Detection Area

  1. Enable the Configuration Function, then select Areas in the Configuration Tree.

  2. In the Configuration Panel, select New, then select Area to activate the Create New Area Wizard.

     

  3. In the Create New Area Wizard, select 'Detection' from the Type drop-down list. Configure the rest of the options, and select Finish.

     

  4. Use standard Creating and Editing to edit the shape and orientation of the Detection Area and position the label.

     

  5. Edit any other details through the area configuration form as required.

  6. Select Save.

Radar Detection Area Setup

There are two approaches for easily configuring detection areas for the radars on your site. The global approach and the per-area approach. The global approach is great for a quick, fast setup but the per-area method is more appropriate when you want to apply your detection area to specific radar and where you want to use different tracking parameters for each radar.

Global Radar Detection Area

This method will configure all available radar that overlap with this detection area to use it combined with the selected tracking parameters. This is a quick and simple method to configure all radar to use your detection area. Further configuration with additional detection areas and alternative tracking parameters may be required on more complex sites.

When using this global setup option be aware that it will replace any existing detection area and tracking configuration setups you have on your radars.

  1. Select the site in the Configuration Tree, then select Radar Detection Area Setup in the Configuration Panel.

     

     

  2. The Radar Detection Area Setup window will open. Choose a Tracking Parameter to apply to your Detection Area from the drop down list, then select Finish.

     

  3. Your Detection Area has now been assigned the selected Tracking Parameters. Tracking Parameters determine how and what the tracker detects and tracks. Learn more about Tracking Parameters here: .

Learn how to manually assign Tracking Parameters on the Detection Areas page:

Assigning a Detection Area to Selected Radar

This approach allows you to assign your detection area to only the radar you want and also allows you to select different tracking parameters for each radar.

  1. Long left click the detection area to open the Radial Menu and select the Radar Parameter Modification:

     

  2. This will open the Radar Parameter Modification screen. This will display a list of all available radar:

     

  3. Select the desired Tracking Parameter from the drop down list for each radar and select Apply.

Video

Demonstration of creating a new detection area and using the per-area option to assign the area to selected radar.

Fine Tuning Detection Areas

Once each radar sensor has been aligned and valid data is being received, it should then be possible to see the objects such as fences, hedges, trees, buildings, road boundaries and the surroundings. You can now use these images to ensure that the rough outer areas created earlier are shaped as tightly as possible around the area(s) that they need to monitor.

To fine tune an area:

  1. Within the map or in the radar group select the relevant Radar.

     

  2. Within the Selected Entity Info Panel, select Radar Data, to overlay the live radar signal within the site map. It is possible to simultaneously overlay the output from two or more radar sensors. However, this uses a sizeable amount of processing power so it is advisable to show no more than two or three sensor overlays at a time.

     

  3. Select the source Raw.

     

  4. Ensure you can see the raw data where you want to apply the detection on the map.

  5. Click on the Detection Area to select it, then configure it following the information on the Creating and Editing Entities page: . Use the Raw Data to shape the Detection Area around visible objects and boundaries. In this example the detection areas is being redrawn around the tree line to ensure we achieve maximum detection but without extending the area into the trees where the radar cannot see.

     

  6. When the area has been fine tuned, select Save to store the new area shape.

Safety is everything.