Exploring Radar Data Representations in Autonomous Driving: A Comprehensive Review
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Abstract (arXiv)
With the rapid advancements of sensor technology and deep learning, autonomous driving systems are providing safe and efficient access to intelligent vehicles as well as intelligent transportation. Among these equipped sensors, the radar sensor plays a crucial role in providing robust perception information in diverse environmental conditions. This review focuses on exploring different radar data representations utilized in autonomous driving systems. Firstly, we introduce the capabilities and limitations of the radar sensor by examining the working principles of radar perception and signal processing of radar measurements. Then, we delve into the generation process of five radar representations, including the ADC signal, radar tensor, point cloud, grid map, and micro-Doppler signature. For each radar representation, we examine the related datasets, methods, advantages and limitations. Furthermore, we discuss the challenges faced in these data representations and propose potential research directions. Above all, this comprehensive review offers an in-depth insight into how these representations enhance autonomous system capabilities, providing guidance for radar perception researchers. To facilitate retrieval and comparison of different data representations, datasets and methods, we provide an interactive website at https://radar-camera-fusion.github.io/radar.
Key facts. Cited by 22 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 102 of its 261 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 8 Dec 2023.
Builds on
102 of 261 references.
References · 102
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38 more
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- 2019The Oxford Radar RobotCar Dataset: A Radar Extension to the Oxford RobotCar Datasetcited by 133
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- 2020RADIATE: A Radar Dataset for Automotive Perception in Bad Weathercited by 98
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- 2025A Survey of LLM-Driven AI Agent Communication: Protocols, Security Risks, and Defense Countermeasurescited by 54
- 2024WaterVG: Waterway Visual Grounding based on Text-Guided Vision and mmWave Radarcited by 13
- 2024PriorDrive: Enhancing Online HD Mapping with Unified Vector Priorscited by 9
- 2025USVTrack: USV-Based 4D Radar-Camera Tracking Dataset for Autonomous Driving in Inland Waterwayscited by 4
- 2025Wavelet-based Multi-View Fusion of 4D Radar Tensor and Camera for Robust 3D Object Detectioncited by 4
- 2025Forging Spatial Intelligence: A Roadmap of Multi-Modal Data Pre-Training for Autonomous Systemscited by 4
- 2025RASMD: RGB And SWIR Multispectral Driving Dataset for Robust Perception in Adverse Conditionscited by 3
- 2025InfoCom: Kilobyte-Scale Communication-Efficient Collaborative Perception with Information Bottleneckcited by 3
- 2025SFGFusion: Surface Fitting Guided 3D Object Detection with 4D Radar and Camera Fusioncited by 2
- 2025RAPTR: Radar-based 3D Pose Estimation using Transformercited by 2
- 2026RADE-Net: Robust Attention Network for Radar-Only Object Detection in Adverse Weathercited by 2
- 20254DR P2T: 4D Radar Tensor Synthesis with Point Cloudscited by 1
10 more
- 2025Depth-aware Fusion Method based on Image and 4D Radar Spectrum for 3D Object Detectioncited by 1
- 2025All You Need for Object Detection: From Pixels, Points, and Prompts to Next-Gen Fusion and Multimodal LLMs/VLMs in Autonomous Vehiclescited by 1
- 2025REXO: Indoor Multi-View Radar Object Detection via 3D Bounding Box Diffusioncited by 1
- 2026Radar-Informed 3D Multi-Object Tracking under Adverse Conditionscited by 1
- 20264D-CAAL: 4D Radar-Camera Calibration and Auto-Labeling for Autonomous Drivingcited by 0
- 2026On Learning Spatial Structure from Pre-Beamforming Per-Antenna Range-Doppler Radar Measurementscited by 0
- 2026DinoRADE: Full Spectral Radar-Camera Fusion with Vision Foundation Model Features for Multi-class Object Detection in Adverse Weathercited by 0
- 2026REFNet++: Multi-Task Efficient Fusion of Camera and Radar Sensor Data in Bird's-Eye Polar Viewcited by 0
- 20264D Radar Perception Algorithms for Autonomous Driving: A Reviewcited by 0
- 2026STAR: Scene- and Task-Aware 4D Radar Preprocessing Towards End-to-End Cognitive Radarcited by 0
- 2026STAR: Scene- and Task-Aware 4D Radar Preprocessing Towards End-to-End Cognitive Radar21 Sep 2026
- 20264D Radar Perception Algorithms for Autonomous Driving: A Review16 Sep 2026
- 2026REFNet++: Multi-Task Efficient Fusion of Camera and Radar Sensor Data in Bird's-Eye Polar View12 May 2026
- 2026Radar-Informed 3D Multi-Object Tracking under Adverse Conditions15 Apr 2026
- 2026DinoRADE: Full Spectral Radar-Camera Fusion with Vision Foundation Model Features for Multi-class Object Detection in Adverse Weather9 Apr 2026
- 2026On Learning Spatial Structure from Pre-Beamforming Per-Antenna Range-Doppler Radar Measurements2 Apr 2026
- 2026RADE-Net: Robust Attention Network for Radar-Only Object Detection in Adverse Weather23 Feb 2026
- 20264D-CAAL: 4D Radar-Camera Calibration and Auto-Labeling for Autonomous Driving29 Jan 2026
- 2025Forging Spatial Intelligence: A Roadmap of Multi-Modal Data Pre-Training for Autonomous Systems30 Dec 2025
- 2025Wavelet-based Multi-View Fusion of 4D Radar Tensor and Camera for Robust 3D Object Detection28 Dec 2025
- 2025InfoCom: Kilobyte-Scale Communication-Efficient Collaborative Perception with Information Bottleneck11 Dec 2025
- 2025REXO: Indoor Multi-View Radar Object Detection via 3D Bounding Box Diffusion21 Nov 2025
10 more
- 2025RAPTR: Radar-based 3D Pose Estimation using Transformer11 Nov 2025
- 2025All You Need for Object Detection: From Pixels, Points, and Prompts to Next-Gen Fusion and Multimodal LLMs/VLMs in Autonomous Vehicles30 Oct 2025
- 2025SFGFusion: Surface Fitting Guided 3D Object Detection with 4D Radar and Camera Fusion22 Oct 2025
- 2025A Survey of LLM-Driven AI Agent Communication: Protocols, Security Risks, and Defense Countermeasures24 Jun 2025
- 2025USVTrack: USV-Based 4D Radar-Camera Tracking Dataset for Autonomous Driving in Inland Waterways23 Jun 2025
- 2025RASMD: RGB And SWIR Multispectral Driving Dataset for Robust Perception in Adverse Conditions10 Apr 2025
- 2025Depth-aware Fusion Method based on Image and 4D Radar Spectrum for 3D Object Detection21 Feb 2025
- 20254DR P2T: 4D Radar Tensor Synthesis with Point Clouds8 Feb 2025
- 2024PriorDrive: Enhancing Online HD Mapping with Unified Vector Priors9 Sep 2024
- 2024WaterVG: Waterway Visual Grounding based on Text-Guided Vision and mmWave Radar19 Mar 2024
- 2024WaterVG: Waterway Visual Grounding based on Text-Guided Vision and mmWave Radarcited by 13
- 2024PriorDrive: Enhancing Online HD Mapping with Unified Vector Priorscited by 9
- 2025USVTrack: USV-Based 4D Radar-Camera Tracking Dataset for Autonomous Driving in Inland Waterwayscited by 4
- 2025Wavelet-based Multi-View Fusion of 4D Radar Tensor and Camera for Robust 3D Object Detectioncited by 4
- 2025Forging Spatial Intelligence: A Roadmap of Multi-Modal Data Pre-Training for Autonomous Systemscited by 4
- 2025RASMD: RGB And SWIR Multispectral Driving Dataset for Robust Perception in Adverse Conditionscited by 3
- 2025InfoCom: Kilobyte-Scale Communication-Efficient Collaborative Perception with Information Bottleneckcited by 3
- 2025SFGFusion: Surface Fitting Guided 3D Object Detection with 4D Radar and Camera Fusioncited by 2
- 2025RAPTR: Radar-based 3D Pose Estimation using Transformercited by 2
- 2026RADE-Net: Robust Attention Network for Radar-Only Object Detection in Adverse Weathercited by 2
- 20254DR P2T: 4D Radar Tensor Synthesis with Point Cloudscited by 1
- 2025Depth-aware Fusion Method based on Image and 4D Radar Spectrum for 3D Object Detectioncited by 1
12 most cited of 20 All 20 (JSON)
- 2026STAR: Scene- and Task-Aware 4D Radar Preprocessing Towards End-to-End Cognitive Radar21 Sep 2026
- 20264D Radar Perception Algorithms for Autonomous Driving: A Review16 Sep 2026
- 2026REFNet++: Multi-Task Efficient Fusion of Camera and Radar Sensor Data in Bird's-Eye Polar View12 May 2026
- 2026Radar-Informed 3D Multi-Object Tracking under Adverse Conditions15 Apr 2026
- 2026DinoRADE: Full Spectral Radar-Camera Fusion with Vision Foundation Model Features for Multi-class Object Detection in Adverse Weather9 Apr 2026
- 2026On Learning Spatial Structure from Pre-Beamforming Per-Antenna Range-Doppler Radar Measurements2 Apr 2026
- 2026RADE-Net: Robust Attention Network for Radar-Only Object Detection in Adverse Weather23 Feb 2026
- 20264D-CAAL: 4D Radar-Camera Calibration and Auto-Labeling for Autonomous Driving29 Jan 2026
- 2025Forging Spatial Intelligence: A Roadmap of Multi-Modal Data Pre-Training for Autonomous Systems30 Dec 2025
- 2025Wavelet-based Multi-View Fusion of 4D Radar Tensor and Camera for Robust 3D Object Detection28 Dec 2025
- 2025InfoCom: Kilobyte-Scale Communication-Efficient Collaborative Perception with Information Bottleneck11 Dec 2025
- 2025REXO: Indoor Multi-View Radar Object Detection via 3D Bounding Box Diffusion21 Nov 2025
12 newest of 20 All 20 (JSON)