In this article for IoT Insider, Dr. Jae-Eun Lee, CEO and Founder of bitsensing writes how radar solutions are driving industries forward
As the world continues to get increasingly connected, from the creation of autonomous delivery robots to smart devices that aid in crop analysis and beyond, the need for precision sensors has never been more in demand. According to Statista, the autonomous and sensor technology market, encompassing technologies like LiDAR, radar, and cameras, is projected to grow from $30.51 billion in 2025 to $55.25 billion by 2030.
Radar technology, specifically, has experienced a profound evolution in the last decade. While this technology has been around since World War II, today, its capabilities extend into the everyday lives of consumers and businesses, enabling safer roads, smarter cities, and better healthcare outcomes.
Why? Because radar is the only all-weather, all-lighting sensor, making it the superior sensor for a host of different applications. And, as radar continues to advance in precision, reliability, and affordability, its application across industries will only continue to reveal its potential.
Automotive: Enhancing safety and performance
In the automotive sector, radar plays a key role in advancing driver assistance systems and paving the way for autonomous vehicles. Adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, and blind spot detection are now standard features in many vehicles, relying heavily on radar sensors for accurate distance measurement and object detection.
Unlike other sensor technologies such as cameras and lidar, radar performs consistently in adverse conditions like heavy rain, fog, or dust. This robustness makes it indispensable for ensuring the reliability of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems. Moreover, radar’s ability to detect objects and their relative speeds in real time has made it crucial for collision avoidance systems, reducing the risk of accidents.
Modern imaging radar technologies are elevating automotive radar’s capabilities even further. By advancing traditional radar systems into full 4D imaging radar, the technology now offers LiDAR-like point Cloud data, providing precise detection of surroundings. With detection ranges exceeding 300 metres, these systems enhance obstacle detection and collision avoidance precision. This ensures vehicles can operate safely and effectively in dynamic environments. Additionally, radar solutions designed specifically for corner applications offer significant improvements in detection range, which is critical for safe navigation in urban and highway scenarios.
Looking ahead, radar will be central to vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, enabling cars to interact not just with each other but also with infrastructure, pedestrians, and cyclists. This connectivity will improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, and enhance overall road safety.
Smart cities: Creating cities that know how to communicate
As urban areas grow, so does the complexity of managing them. Radar technology is emerging as a powerful tool for smart city applications, offering precise, non-intrusive, and cost-effective solutions to urban challenges.
Traffic management is a primary focus and the real benefit of relying on radar in this use case is because it enables real-time monitoring of extensive areas in a city. What this means in practice is that radar sensors accurately capture the rate of acceleration and deceleration for different objects, which is a crucial factor in traffic analysis simulations, leading to the optimisation of traffic signals, reduction of congestion, and improved pedestrian safety.
Integration into Edge AI computing is also a key feature of advanced radar systems, including enabling it to monitor multi-lane traffic, identify vehicle types, and detect anomalies like jaywalking or wrong-way driving. These systems significantly reduce the need for continuous manual oversight and data management while ensuring accurate, reliable monitoring.
From a technical specifications standpoint too, compared to other sensors radar has superior long-range detection capabilities in straight sections and its data is lighter than video/camera data, making it more suitable for big data construction and simulation purposes. Finally, unlike cameras, radar respects privacy by capturing only motion and position data without recording identifiable images, making it a preferred choice in public spaces.
Beyond traffic, radar is also being deployed to enhance security and emergency response. For instance, it can enable smart parking systems or monitor crowd density during large-scale events to prevent overcrowding. The integration of radar with IoT networks further amplifies its impact. Connected radar systems can share data across city infrastructures, enabling cost-saving and long-term thinking applications like environmental monitoring and infrastructure health assessments. For example, radar sensors can detect structural anomalies in bridges or buildings, providing early warnings and preventing catastrophic failures.
Healthcare: Bringing precision and privacy back to health monitoring
Radar’s utility extends far beyond industrial and urban applications; it is making significant inroads into healthcare, where its non-contact capabilities offer unique advantages. Patient monitoring is a prime example. Radar sensors can track vital signs such as heart rate, respiratory rate, and even sleep patterns without requiring physical contact or wearable devices.
This contactless monitoring is particularly valuable in hospital settings, where minimising physical interaction can reduce the risk of infections. It is equally transformative for at-home care, allowing elderly or chronically ill patients to be monitored continuously and discreetly. Caregivers and healthcare providers can receive real-time alerts in case of anomalies, enabling timely intervention and improving patient outcomes.
Sleep monitoring is another promising application. Radar can provide detailed insights into sleep quality by detecting micro-movements and breathing patterns. This data is invaluable for diagnosing sleep disorders like sleep apnea and tailoring treatment plans. Unlike wearable devices or in-patient polysomnography tests requiring patients to be hooked up to lots of wiring and electrodes, radar’s non-intrusive nature ensures higher patient compliance and comfort. The ability to continuously monitor sleep without such nuisances addresses key limitations of traditional sleep tech.
Radar is a major building block of our connected future
Radar technology is no longer confined to niche applications; it is becoming a cornerstone of innovation across diverse sectors. From enhancing vehicle safety and streamlining urban management to improving healthcare delivery, radar’s versatility and reliability make it a key enabler of progress.
Its ability to adapt to distinct challenges across industries highlights both its versatility and precision. As industries continue to explore and refine their capabilities, radar is poised to reshape the way we interact with our environments and each other, driving a safer, smarter, and healthier future.

Jae-Eun Lee is the Co-CEO of bitsensing, a pioneer in advanced radar solutions with applications across autonomous driving, connected living, smart cities, heath tech, and beyond. Prior to founding bitsensing, he was a Senior Research Engineer at Mando Corporation, a global Tier 1 OEM and supplier of automotive components to manufacturers such as GM, Ford, BMW, Hyundai, and KIA.
Author: Dr. Jae-Eun Lee, CEO and Founder of bitsensing
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