Through-the-Wall Radar Imaging: Theory and Applications

Abstract

Abstract Through-the-Wall radar imaging (TWRI) is emerging as a viable technology for providing high quality imagery of enclosed structures. TWRI makes use of electromagnetic waves below the S-band to penetrate through building wall materials. The indoor scene can be illuminated from each antenna, and be reconstructed using the data from the receive antennas. Due to the “see”-through ability, TWRI has attracted much attention in the last decade with a variety of important civilian and military applications. For instance, this technology is employed for surveillance and detection of humans and interior objects in urban environments, and for search and rescue operations in military situations. In this chapter, we cover signal processing algorithms that proved valuable in allowing proper imaging and image recovery in the presence of high clutter, caused by front walls, and multipath, caused by reflections from internal walls. Specifically, we focus on ground-based imaging systems which are relatively mature, and discuss wall mitigation techniques, multipath exploitation methods, change detection of moving target, and compressive sensing for fast data acquisition.