Holographic Near-Field Microwave Imaging With Antenna Arrays in a Cylindrical Setup

Holographic microwave imaging is fast and robust and it has been adapted for near-field applications such as biomedical imaging and nondestructive testing. While the imaging technique is fast, synthesizing a 2-D aperture by mechanical scanning of the antennas takes time. Here, antenna arrays are used to expedite data acquisition along the azimuthal direction in a cylindrical holographic near-field microwave imaging setup. To deal with the limited and nonuniform samples along the azimuthal direction, three holographic imaging approaches are evaluated, in which, we use interpolation, uniform or nonuniform discrete Fourier transform (DFT), standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA), and exact low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA). Besides, to make the system low-cost and portable, off-the-shelf components are used to construct a data acquisition system replacing the vector network analyzers. Simulation and experimental studies are conducted to validate the performance of the proposed imaging system. Structural similarity (SSIM) index is used to assess the quality of the reconstructed images.

Automated summary

Holographic microwave imaging is a fast and robust technique adapted for near-field applications like biomedical imaging and nondestructive testing. Antenna arrays are utilized to expedite data acquisition along the azimuthal direction, while different holographic imaging approaches are evaluated to deal with limited and nonuniform samples. The system is made low-cost and portable by using off-the-shelf components for constructing a data acquisition system, with simulation and experimental studies conducted to validate its performance.