Freehand, Agile, and High-Resolution Imaging With Compact mm-Wave Radar

Guillermo Alvarez-Narciandi,Miguel Lopez-Portugues,Fernando Las-Heras,Jaime Laviada

doi:10.1109/access.2019.2929522

Guillermo Alvarez-Narciandi, Miguel Lopez-Portugues + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2019.2929522

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Journal: IEEE Access	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2019
Citations: 37	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Oviedo

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a freehand scanning system with a compact mm-wave radar. In order to achieve high-resolution images, the system exploits the free movements of the radar to create a synthetic aperture. However, in contrast to conventional synthetic aperture radar (SAR), in which canonical acquisition surfaces (e.g., planes or cylinders) are used, the system allows for a given tolerance compatible with real hand-made trajectories. Moreover, different techniques are studied to compensate for the impact of irregular sampling to reduce the artifacts in the image. As a result, real-time scanning can be readily performed even by inexperienced users. The scanning system, comprising a commercial motion capture system and an mm-wave module, can be easily deployed and calibrated. Several results involving different objects are shown to illustrate the performance of the system.

Highlights

Electromagnetic imaging [1] enables to inspect the inner composition of different objects or beings
In this manuscript a mm-wave freehand scanner based on a FMCW radar was presented
The proposed system comprises an optical tracking system to estimate the position of the radar and a conventional laptop to process the measurements using a delay and sum algorithm to obtain highresolution real-time reflectivity images

Summary

Introduction

Electromagnetic imaging [1] enables to inspect the inner composition of different objects or beings. This technology can be employed, under different implementations, for nondestructive evaluation of materials [2], [3], medicine [4], defense and security [5]–[7], food inspection [8], [9], obstacle detection [10], among other applications. A very desirable feature for any of the previous system is compactness. This feature is obviously linked to the working frequency and, it is hard to achieve in microwave systems. The quick development of this technology in the last years has enabled a wide variety of robust and affordable devices

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Conclusion