A 3-D Dual-Polarized Near-Field Microwave Imaging System

Abstract

A novel 3-D dual-polarized microwave imaging system based on the modulated scattering technique (MST) is presented. The system collects the magnitude and phase of the scattered field using 120 MST probes and 12 transmitter/collector antennas distributed around an object-of-interest in the near-field region. The 12 antennas form a middle circumferential layer while the printed MST probes are arranged on three circumferential layers including the middle layer. The antennas are linearly polarized double-layer Vivaldi antennas, each fixed inside its own cylindrical conducting cavity and slanted with respect to the vertical axis of the imaging chamber. The MST probes are etched on both sides of a thin substrate and loaded with five evenly distributed p-i-n diodes along their length. These are positioned vertically and horizontally so that the z- and φ-components of the electric field is measured. Field data are collected using MST, calibrated, and then inverted using a multiplicatively regularized finite-element contrast source inversion algorithm. The system performance is evaluated by collecting and inverting data from different 3-D targets.