Comprehensive Evaluation of Rule-Based, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning in Human Estimation Using Radio Wave Sensing: Accuracy, Spatial Generalization, and Output Granularity Trade-offs

This study presents the first comprehensive comparison of rule-based methods, traditional machine learning models, and deep learning models in radio wave sensing with frequency modulated continuous wave multiple input multiple output radar. We systematically evaluated five approaches in two indoor environments with distinct layouts: a rule-based connected component method; three traditional machine learning models, namely k-nearest neighbors, random forest, and support vector machine; and a deep learning model combining a convolutional neural network and long short term memory. In the training environment, the convolutional neural network long short term memory model achieved the highest accuracy, while traditional machine learning models provided moderate performance. In a new layout, however, all learning based methods showed significant degradation, whereas the rule-based method remained stable. Notably, for binary detection of presence versus absence of people, all models consistently achieved high accuracy across layouts. These results demonstrate that high capacity models can produce fine grained outputs with high accuracy in the same environment, but they are vulnerable to domain shift. In contrast, rule-based methods cannot provide fine grained outputs but exhibit robustness against domain shift. Moreover, regardless of the model type, a clear trade off was revealed between spatial generalization performance and output granularity.