Radar detection uses reflected radio waves from a sensor on the forklift to sense objects in a zone around the truck and estimate their distance and movement, without tags or cameras.
Radar sensors are typically mounted on the rear or sides of a forklift, where they cover reversing and turning areas that the driver cannot see well. They work in dust, steam, rain and darkness, which makes them useful outdoors, in yards and in cold storage where cameras fog. Short-range millimetre-wave radar can also detect movement, which helps separate a person walking from a fixed object.
The main limit is classification. Basic radar senses that something is there but not what it is, so racking, parked trucks and pallets can trigger the same warning as a person. In a busy aisle that produces nuisance alarms, and drivers soon tune them out. Newer radar units try to classify targets, but buyers should test them against their own clutter. Radar is often paired with a camera so the driver can see what triggered the alert. The proximity detection technologies comparison sets radar against UWB, cameras and LiDAR.