Real-Time Multi-View SAR Imaging Using a Portable Microwave Camera with Arbitrary Movement

Abstract

This paper presents the first demonstrator of a portable, multi-view, high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) and real-time microwave imaging system. The system is based on a recently-developed real-time 3D microwave camera, which performs quasi-monostatic acquisitions, equipped with an optical depth camera providing target surface profile information. Additionally, the entire system can be arbitrarily moved along the target performing microwave and depth camera synchronized acquisitions from different views with a twofold purpose, namely; a) enabling a coverage area much larger than that possible with a static imaging system, and b) allowing for incorporation of several tilt angles (or views) to enhance capturing specular reflection imaging data to improve the overall image quality. At each scanning position, the imaging data from the microwave camera are processed to build a local 3D microwave image. The information is then merged, using recently-proposed techniques for multi-view synthetic aperture imaging, to compose the global image. The synchronized optical camera depth acquisitions enable tracking the entire imager movements so that the position and attitude are known. Moreover, the data acquired by the depth camera are also use to build a complementary 3D outer surface profile model of the target, producing a combined and realistic image of the internal and external geometries of the target. Finally, the performance of the combined system is evaluated using several examples related to hidden contraband covered by clothing (i.e., people screening).

Department(s)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

3D Microwave Camera; Depth Camera; Multi-View Imaging; Synthetic Aperture Imaging

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0018-926X; 1558-2221

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2018 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Dec 2018

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