The capabilities and pervasiveness of radar technology applications in our modern society may surprise many people.

Ainstein’s radar technologies are deployed in a wide range of different applications. The majority of our products see action in either UAV/drone applications, or in automotive applications. But, there are many more ways that radar technology can be used creatively to achieve specific management or business goals. Keep reading to see how!

1:Bicyclist Safety

Unexpected car door opening can pose serious risk to bicyclists.

Beyond the applications of radar technology for automotive use that many people might think of — collision avoidance, for example — radar is also useful for improving another aspect of automotive safety. Many car doors on new automobiles today offer remote control opening and closing. This is a great feature that provides convenience for many drivers, but it can also represent a safety hazard if they don’t also include a sensor to know if there is, for instance, a bike parked right by your beloved Tesla! Radar technology is useful for just such a purpose, helping to improve safety of these new automotive features.

2: Smart city management

Smart cities is a broad and somewhat ambiguous term which encompasses any technology that is used to make life in cities easier, more efficient, safer, or some combination of these. Such applications promise new opportunities, but many are also concerned about the privacy implications of these technologies, which oftentimes rely on video feeds from dozens or hundreds of cameras placed around a city.

One example is traffic management. Some cities today are using networks of real-time video monitoring (together with other sensors) to monitor and manage urban traffic flows. But, privacy advocates worry that the same video cameras could be used to track and control private citizens as they go about their daily business in the city. Radar technology can help solve this problem.

Radar technology, such as that offered by Ainstein, can deliver the same functionality. But, because radar technology does not capture or construct an image, these privacy concerns can be alleviated.

3: Fluid measurement and monitoring

Radar doesn’t have to be used only to monitor moving objects, or solid objects. One novel and growing use of radar technology is for remotely measuring fluid levels (thinking juice, oil, or the water in your town’s water tower) with great accuracy. In many cases, companies may be storing, handling, or treating fluids which are at extremely high temperatures or pressures, or which may be hazardous to human health. The company needs to know the fluid’s level at all times, but these conditions make it difficult to use some traditional measurement techniques. Radar technology solves this problem, allowing continuous, real-time, and remote measurement of fluid levels without need for putting a human in harm’s way.

4: Perimeter control/monitoring

Radar can be used to establish an invisible perimeter that, if crossed, alerts you. Specific applications include border control, corrections facilities, and home or campus building security. For example, many nation-states employ radar technologies to monitor long, desolate stretches of international borders for anomalous movements, which saves them time and money and allows them to deploy their limited human patrol assets to the most effective places.

5: Mining

Radar offers tremendous benefits for the mining sector. First, radar is useful for identifying the locations and approximate amounts of certain mineral deposits, allowing new mining prospecting to be more precise and deliberate. Second, radar is used to monitor an existing mining site to provide estimates of how much of a given mineral remains, and also to provide safety measurements for underground mines by determining mine wall and ceiling thickness measurements.

6: Smart homes and smart buildings

What was once the dream of a smart home or smart building is now becoming a reality for many people: thermostats and lighting that adjust themselves based on a building’s occupancy, doors that lock or unlock based on a specific person approaching or leaving the building, and entertainment centers that adjust their playback for a specific person. Many of these applications are being pushed forward leveraging other technologies, but, once again, radar technology can be used to achieve the same end, but oftentimes without the privacy concerns that other technologies may raise.

7: Civil infrastructure management

Civil engineering companies use radar technology to determine the exact locations of hidden infrastructure such as wiring or pipes that may be behind a thick wall of concrete, or buried several inches or even feet beneath the surface. When a repair needs to be made, or an upgrade carried out, civil engineering firms use radar technology to pinpoint the precise location of their work, allowing them to use surgical precision and impact a relatively small area of a work site.

8. Geo-survey

SAR Radar (Synthetic-aperture radar) is being used to conduct geo-survey, thinking ice sheet at Antarctica, geo-membrane in shielding waste water installation, oil spill detection and more. Radar has the benefit of penetrating cloud and rain, and it operates day and night. Even more amazing, SAR Radar has the subsurface penetration capability, great for archaeology research and geo survey commonly required for insurance purpose. Ainstein technology enables SAR equipped on UAV, which drastically reduced the total cost of ownership for SAR Radar system.

Researchers from the San Diego used Ainstein’s radar technology for a similar purpose: to assist in their efforts to track polar bear populations and movement patterns with ice sheet and other geo-characteristic changes.