Design and implementation of a noise radar tomographic system

A hardware system has been developed to perform ultrawideband (UWB) noise radar tomography over the 3–5 GHz frequency range. The system utilizes RF hardware to transmit multiple independent and identically distributed UWB random noise waveforms. A 3–5 GHz band-limited signal is generated using an arbitrary waveform generator and the waveform is then amplified and transmitted through a horn antenna. A linear scanner with a single antenna is used in place of an antenna array to collect backscatter. The backscatter is collected from the transmission of each waveform and reconstructed to form an image. The images that result from each scan are averaged to produce a single tomographic image of the target. After background subtraction, the scans are averaged to improve the image quality. The experimental results are compared to the theoretical predictions. The system is able to successfully image metallic and dielectric cylinders of different cross sections.

[1]  David Zimdars,et al.  Terahertz reflection imaging for package and personnel inspection , 2004, SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing.

[2]  Sune R. J. Axelsson.  Noise radar using random phase and frequency modulation , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[3]  B. M. Horton.  Noise-Modulated Distance Measuring Systems , 1959, Proceedings of the IRE.

[4]  L. Jofre,et al.  Cylindrical geometry: a further step in active microwave tomography , 1991 .

[5]  Ram M. Narayanan,et al.  Principles and applications of coherent random noise radar technology , 2003, SPIE International Symposium on Fluctuations and Noise.

[6]  S.Y. Semenov,et al.  Microwave tomography: two-dimensional system for biological imaging , 1996, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[7]  G. R. Cooper,et al.  A class of noise radar systems , 1963 .

[8]  B.D. Van Veen,et al.  An overview of ultra-wideband microwave imaging via space-time beamforming for early-stage breast-cancer detection , 2005, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine.

[9]  M. Rangaswamy,et al.  Noise radar tomography , 2012, 2012 IEEE Radar Conference.

[10]  Puyan Mojabi,et al.  An ultra-wideband microwave tomography system: Preliminary results , 2009, 2009 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

[11]  L. Turner,et al.  The evolution of featureless waveforms for LPI communications , 1991, Proceedings of the IEEE 1991 National Aerospace and Electronics Conference NAECON 1991.

[12]  Tah-Hsiung Chu,et al.  An effective usage of vector network analyzer for microwave imaging , 2005 .

[13]  F. De Flaviis,et al.  Microwave reflection tomographic array for damage detection of civil structures , 2003 .

[14]  Jean-Charles Bolomey,et al.  Microwave tomography: From theory to practical imaging systems , 1990, Int. J. Imaging Syst. Technol..

[15]  Ram M. Narayanan,et al.  Ultra-wideband noise radar imaging of cylindrical PEC objects using diffraction tomography , 2014, Defense + Security Symposium.

[16]  Mohd Zulkifly Abdullah,et al.  High-resolution imaging of dielectric profiles by using a time-domain ultra wideband radar sensor , 2011 .

[17]  Ram M. Narayanan,et al.  Ultrawideband Noise Radar Imaging of Impenetrable Cylindrical Objects Using Diffraction Tomography , 2014 .

[18]  Alexey A. Vertiy,et al.  C-band tomography system for imaging of cylindrical objects , 1999, Optics & Photonics.

[19]  K. A. Lukin,et al.  Noise Radar Technology , 2001 .