Cutting-edge personnel security screening relies on microwave imaging, where addressing future security demands entails integrating digital twins into development and testing processes. To create a realistic digital twin for microwave imaging systems, accurate replication of microwave images obtained from scanning real individuals is crucial, achieved through electromagnetic simulation. Employing fast simulation methods reduces the computational load to a viable level, yet it introduces some computational inaccuracies due to underlying approximations. The extent to which these inaccuracies affect microwave images is often unclear, while digital twins are already being used. To thoroughly assess this unknown influence, the simulation results obtained with physical optics (PO) and geometrical optics (GO) are compared with an integral equation (IE) solution approach using two scenarios of a walk-through personnel security screening in the frequency band below 10.6 GHz. Remarkably, while radar images are highly similar, raw signals exhibit significant deviations. Thus, for radar image simulation, PO and GO appear sufficiently accurate, offering attractive runtimes below two minutes per simulation. Conversely, the IE method proves impractical in many situations, as a single image necessitates over three weeks of computations.
State-of-the-art personnel screening systems reconstruct images by using multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radars, which require a large number of transmit and receive channels along a two-dimensional array. We propose a novel concept for security screening which does not require the person to stand still and only employs a one- dimensional array: Our approach is built on the use of inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging based on a vertical line array. This means that the moving person inversely samples a synthetic aperture along the horizontal dimension. In order to reconstruct an image by the ISAR principle, the test subject's velocity relative to the radar aperture needs to be known. Therefore, we employ an additional radar module which measures the person's velocity, assuming that the person is moving parallel to the aperture plane. Experiments with a mannequin carrying threat objects were performed. The mannequin was moved on a traversing rail with 1 m/s and its velocity was estimated by a commercial radar module emitting a chirp sequence signal. The estimation was in very good accordance with the rail's real moving speed. With the determined target velocity an image was reconstructed along the horizontal direction by the ISAR principle. Along the vertical direction, the focusing was performed using a MIMO line array of 45 transmitter and 24 receiver channels with a total height of 60 cm. That way, and by employing broadband signals (70 GHz - 80 GHz), three-dimensional high-resolution images were obtainable. Promising results were obtained from the measurements and different threat objects were made visible.
We propose the use of 3D-printed helix antennas for millimeter-wave radar imaging. This concept is promising for a number of reasons: Additive manufacturing involving 3D-printing is a relatively cost efficient fabrication technique and offers increased geometrical freedom of design compared to conventional manufacturing processes. From an imaging point of view, using helix antennas is advantageous because of the circular polarization the antennas emit. That way, imaging thin dipole-like structures is possible regardless of their orientation. In contrast, imaging systems using linearly polarized antennas are unable to image dipoles orientated orthogonally to their polarization direction. Radar systems using circular polarization additionally enable polarimetric imaging and decomposition. In security screening this can achieve a higher classification accuracy in discriminating threat objects and reduce false alarms. Furthermore, the thin helix antennas (typical coil diameter: ca. 1.5 mm) can be mounted very closely to each other, which is interesting for array design. A security screening example was investigated for demonstration: A cardboard box with metallic and dielectric threat objects was screened at 70 GHz – 90 GHz by a quasi-monostatic synthetic aperture radar consisting of two 3D-printed helix antennas, one right-hand and one left-hand circularly polarized. As a reference, the same object was screened with split-block linearly polarized horn antennas. With the proposed setup, the resolution of the reconstruction images was comparable to that of the reference system. However, the circular polarization was able to depict thin structures in a better fashion than the linearly polarized reference system.
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