In recent years, single-frequency and wideband
synthetic aperture imaging algorithms have been
used in radar imaging for microwave and
millimeter wave nondestructive testing (NDT) of a
wide range of materials and structures. Synthetic
aperture radar (SAR) techniques are robust and
therefore offer great utility when incorporated with
NDT applications. Unlike most radar applications,
however, NDT applications are often concerned
with layered composite structures in which an
anomalous indication may exist. Therefore, any
such SAR algorithm must be able to account for the
influences of each layer according to its dielectric
properties and thickness (that is, account for the
influence of reflected and transmitted waves at
each boundary). In such applications where small
thicknesses are of interest, if the layered nature of
the structure is not properly taken into account,
then the image of a target may correspond to a
wrong location within the structure, or may be
masked or otherwise significantly altered. In this
paper, an effective one-way SAR algorithm is
presented that is capable of correctly imaging and
determining the location of a target in an arbitrary
multilayered structure. This algorithm employs
spectral-domain Green’s function for a multilayered
structure, which accounts for all reflected and
transmitted signals at each boundary.
Subsequently, a Wiener filter-based deconvolution
process was employed to reconstruct an image.
Reconstructed images produced in this way are
devoid of unfocused and/or misplaced targets,
which usually happens if standard SAR imaging
techniques developed for free-space applications
with homogeneous backgrounds are used for
imaging a multilayered structure. This paper
presents the results of simulations, as well as a
representative measurement, to show the efficacy
of the proposed technique.
Chew, C., Waves and Fields in Inhomogeneous Media, IEEE Press, Piscataway,
New Jersey, 1995.
Dehmollaian, M., M. Thiel and K. Sarabandi, “Through-the-wall Imaging
Using Differential SAR,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote
Sensing, Vol. 47, No. 5, May 2009, pp. 1289–1296.
Dehmollaian, M. and K. Sarabandi, “Refocusing Through Building Walls
Using Synthetic Aperture Radar,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and
Remote Sensing, Vol. 46, No. 6, January 2008, pp. 1589–1599.
Fear, E. C., S. C. Hagness, P. M. Meaney, M. Okoniewski and M. A.
Stuchly, “Enhancing Breast Tumor Detection with Near-field Imaging,”
IEEE Microwave Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 1, March 2002, pp. 48–56.
Honarvar, F., H. Sheikhzadeh, M. Moles and A. N Sinclair, “Improving the
Time-Resolution and Signal-to-Noise Ratio of Ultrasonic NDE Signals,”
Ultrasonics, Vol. 41, 2004, pp. 755–763.
Karsli, H., “Further Improvement of Temporal Resolution of Seismic Data
by Autoregressive (AR) Spectral Extrapolation,” Journal of Applied
Geophysics, Vol. 59, No. 4, 2006, pp. 324–336.
Kharkovsky, S., B. J. Carroll, M. T. Ghasr and R. Zoughi, “Dielectric
Property Characterization of Refractory Materials Using Microwave Open-
Ended and Completely Filled Waveguide Methods,” Proceedings of the
Third International Conference on Electromagnetic Near-Field Characterization
and Imaging, St. Louis, Missouri, August 2007.
Lewis, F., “Wireless Sensor Networks: Smart Environments Technologies,
Protocols, and Applications,” Data-Logging and Supervisory Control in
Wireless Sensor Networks, Wiley, New York, New York, 2004.
Lopez-Sanchez, J. M. and J. Fortuny-Guasch, “3D Radar Imaging Using
Range Migration Techniques,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation,
Vol. 48, No. 5, May 2000, pp. 728–737.
Meng, D., V. Sethu, E. Ambikairajah and L. Ge, “A Novel Technique for
Noise Reduction in InSAR Images,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Letters, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 2007, pp. 226–230.
Piles, M., A. Camps, M. Vall-llossera, A. Monerris, M. Talone and J. L. A.
Perez, “Deconvolution Algorithms in Image Reconstruction for Aperture
Synthesis Radiometers,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium,
23 – 28 July 2007, pp. 1460–1463.
Sheen, D. M., D. L. McMakin and T. E. Hall, “Three-dimensional
Millimeter-wave Imaging for Concealed Weapon Detection,” IEEE Transactions
on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 49, No. 9, September
2001, pp. 1581–1592.
Sin, S. K. and C. H. Chen, “A comparison of Deconvolution Techniques
for The Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation of Materials,” IEEE Transactions
on Image Processing, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1992, pp. 3–10.
Solbo, S. and T. Eltoft, “A Stationary Wavelet-Domain Wiener Filter for
Correlated Speckle,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing,
Vol. 46, No. 4, April 2008, pp. 1219–1230.
Song, L. P., Q. H. Liu, F. Li and Z. Q. Zhang, “Reconstruction of Three-
Dimensional Objects in Layered Media: Numerical Experiments,” IEEE
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 53, No. 4, April 2005,
pp. 1556–1561.
Soumekh, M., Synthetic Aperture Radar Signal Processing with MATLAB
Algorithms, 1st ed., Wiley, 1999, New York, New York.
Vossiek, M., A. Urban, S. Max and P. Gulden, “Inverse Synthetic Aperture
Secondary Radar Concept for Precise Wireless Positioning,” IEEE Transactions
on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 55, No. 11, November
2007, pp. 2447–2453.
Wiener, N., Extrapolation, Interpretation, and Smoothing of Stationary Time
Series with Engineering Application, M.I.T. Press and John Wiley and Sons,
1949.
Yu, C., M. Yuan, Y. Zhang, J. Stang, R. T. George, G. A. Ybarra, W. T.
Joines, W. T. and Q. H. Liu, “Microwave Imaging in Layered Media: 3-D
Image Reconstruction from Experimental Data,” IEEE Transactions on
Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 58, No. 2, February 2010, pp. 440–448.
Yu, C., M. Yuan, J. Stang, E. Bresslour, R. T. George, G. A. Ybarra, W. T.
Joines and Q. H. Liu, “Active Microwave Imaging II: 3-D System Prototype
and Imaging Reconstruction from Experimental Data,” IEEE Transactions
on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 56, No. 4, April 2008,
pp. 991–1000.