High-Resolution Millimeter-Wave Tomography System for Characterization of Low-Permittivity Materials

Andreas Och, Patrick A. Hölzl, Stefan Schuster, Jochen O. Schrattenecker, Philipp F. Freidl, Stefan Scheiblhofer, Dominik Zankl, Venkata Pathuri-Bhuvana, Robert Weigel

    Research output: Conference proceeding/Chapter in Book/Report/Conference Paperpeer-review

    Abstract

    Tomographic microwave imaging is employed in numerous industrial applications, e.g., nondestructive testing. However, most existing systems are not suitable for measurements of low-permittivity materials such as gaseous substances or insulating foam with high air content. This paper introduces a 79 GHz high-resolution tomography system enabling characterization of materials with relative permittivity close to one. It is based on fully-integrated frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar transceivers which significantly reduce cost and complexity. A first prototype is built with two radar sensors and a rotary stage to emulate a higher sensor count. The medium-dependent time-of-flight through the area-under-test is evaluated and Tikhonov regularization is applied to solve the inverse problem and reconstruct a 2D image. System simulations and measurements with low-permittivity foam objects confirm the feasibility of this approach.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationIEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest
    PublisherIEEE Computer Society
    Pages365-368
    Number of pages4
    ISBN (Electronic)9781728168159
    ISBN (Print)9781728168166
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 6 Aug 2020
    Event2020 IEEE/MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) - Los Angeles, CA, USA
    Duration: 4 Aug 20206 Aug 2020

    Publication series

    NameIEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest
    Volume2020-August

    Conference

    Conference2020 IEEE/MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS)
    Period4/08/206/08/20

    Keywords

    • Millimeter wave radar
    • Nondestructive testing
    • Permittivity
    • Radar imaging
    • Time of arrival estimation
    • Tomography

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