This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9252, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Invited Panel Discussion, and Conference Committee listing.

Ground based millimeter wave radar sensors offer the potential for a weather-independent automatic ground surveillance at day and night, e.g. for camp protection applications. The basic principle and the experimental verification of a radar system concept is described, which by means of an extreme off-axis positioning of the antenna(s) combines azimuthal mechanical beam steering with the formation of a circular-arc shaped synthetic aperture (SA). In automatic ground surveillance the function of search and detection of moving ground targets is performed by means of the conventional mechanical scan mode. The rotated antenna structure designed as a small array with two or more RX antenna elements with simultaneous receiver chains allows to instantaneous track multiple moving targets (monopulse principle). The simultaneously operated SAR mode yields areal images of the distribution of stationary scatterers. For ground surveillance application this SAR mode is best suited for identifying possible threats by means of change detection. The feasibility of this concept was tested by means of an experimental radar system comprising of a 94 GHz (W band) FM-CW module with 1 GHz bandwidth and two RX antennas with parallel receiver channels, placed off-axis at a rotating platform. SAR mode and search/track mode were tested during an outdoor measurement campaign. The scenery of two persons walking along a road and partially through forest served as test for the capability to track multiple moving targets. For SAR mode verification an image of the area composed of roads, grassland, woodland and several man-made objects was reconstructed from the measured data.

The three dimensional (3D) aperture synthesis imaging technique investigated here is a generalisation of the classic twodimensional radio astronomy technique with refinements for the near-field so it can be applied a personnel security screening portal. This technique can be viewed as a novel form of diffraction emission tomography and extends previous 3D aperture synthesis imaging research using matrix inversion techniques [1]. Simulations using three-dimensional Fourier transforms to create three-dimensional images from simulated three-dimensional visibility functions illustrate the Abbe microscopy resolution should be achievable in three dimensions simultaneously in a single sensor. The field-of-view is demonstrated to be limited by Fresnel scale effects and a means to over coming this by processing sub-sets of local visibility functions with different phase centres throughout the imaging volume is presented. The applications of this technique to a full 3D imaging security screening portal is explored and a route to extending simulation software for market driven imaging scenarios is discussed.

Active imaging systems in the millimeter wave region have proven to offer good results for security applications. Especially a coherent signal detection results in a high dynamic range. Several techniques and systems were published in the last years. The drawback of an active illumination of the measurement object is the effect of shading and poor illuminated areas due to specular reflections from smooth surfaces. The visibility of an object depends on its surface roughness and its relative positioning to the imaging sensor. Especially in personnel screening, the human skin behaves as a smooth mirror for millimeter waves. This paper describes the incorporation of multipath signals in the imaging process to enhance the illumination properties of active imaging systems. The proposed multipath concept is demonstrated with an active multistatic imaging system working from 70 to 80 GHz for security applications.

In recent years, much effort has been invested to develop inexpensive but sensitive Millimeter Wave (MMW) detectors that can be used in focal plane arrays (FPAs), in order to implement real time MMW imaging. Real time MMW imaging systems are required for many varied applications in many fields as homeland security, medicine, communications, military products and space technology. It is mainly because this radiation has high penetration and good navigability through dust storm, fog, heavy rain, dielectric materials, biological tissue, and diverse materials. Moreover, the atmospheric attenuation in this range of the spectrum is relatively low and the scattering is also low compared to NIR and VIS. The lack of inexpensive room temperature imaging systems makes it difficult to provide a suitable MMW system for many of the above applications. In last few years we advanced in research and development of sensors using very inexpensive (30-50 cents) Glow Discharge Detector (GDD) plasma indicator lamps as MMW detectors. This paper presents three kinds of GDD sensor based lamp Focal Plane Arrays (FPA). Those three kinds of cameras are different in the number of detectors, scanning operation, and detection method. The 1st and 2nd generations are 8 × 8 pixel array and an 18 × 2 mono-rail scanner array respectively, both of them for direct detection and limited to fixed imaging. The last designed sensor is a multiplexing frame rate of 16x16 GDD FPA. It permits real time video rate imaging of 30 frames/ sec and comprehensive 3D MMW imaging. The principle of detection in this sensor is a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) system while each of the 16 GDD pixel lines is sampled simultaneously. Direct detection is also possible and can be done with a friendly user interface. This FPA sensor is built over 256 commercial GDD lamps with 3 mm diameter International Light, Inc., Peabody, MA model 527 Ne indicator lamps as pixel detectors. All three sensors are fully supported by software Graphical Unit Interface (GUI). They were tested and characterized through different kinds of optical systems for imaging applications, super resolution, and calibration methods. Capability of the 16x16 sensor is to employ a chirp radar like method to produced depth and reflectance information in the image. This enables 3-D MMW imaging in real time with video frame rate. In this work we demonstrate different kinds of optical imaging systems. Those systems have capability of 3-D imaging for short range and longer distances to at least 10-20 meters.

This paper presents the design of a circular-shaped ultra-wideband (UWB) time-delay lines inspired by the use of composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH TL) unit cells. A rotated version of a conventional CRLH TL unit cell is used as the basic element to achieve UWB operation. For comparison, time-delay lines using the right-handed transmission line (RH TL) and CRLH TL unit cells are also studied, fabricated and tested. Simulation and measurement results show that our proposed time-delay lines have high return loss, low insertion loss, UWB operation and much longer time delays than that of the time-delay line based on RH TL.

A physico-chemical approach to modify surfaces not only for use in medicine, but also for preservation of food is nowadays widely studied to lower the risks of increased number of bacterial pathogens that are in a direct contact with people. Food safety is very important part of preserving sustainability during crises, especially after the enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli outbreak in Europe in 2011. One of the possibility how we can protect food against various pathogens is the modification of packing materials that are directly in contact with preserved food. This contribution deals with the characterization of modified surfaces with antibacterial properties via Terahertz spectroscopy. For the purpose of this paper, three monomers were used for grafting onto air radiofrequency plasma activated low density polyethylene surface, which created a brush-like structure. Next, the antibacterial agents, Irgasan and Chlorhexidine, were anchored to these surfaces. These antibacterial agents were selected for supposed effect on two most frequently occurring bacterial strains - Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Materials were further tested for the presence of antibacterial agent molecules, in our case by means of terahertz spectroscopy. Each material was tested on two spectroscopes - the SPECTRA and the OSCAT terahertz instruments.

This article provides information about using terahertz radiation based methods such as time-domain spectroscopy, ATR spectroscopy and terahertz reflection imaging for distinguishing of different kinds of gunpowder. The findings in this article prove that gunpowder does not have any sharp peaks in terahertz region of electromagnetic spectrum up to 2.5 THz, but also prove that distinguishing of different kinds of gunpowder is possible using different methods based on terahertz radiation. All presented results are connected to absorbance of gunpowder and other measured materials, because comparison of absorbance analysis is essential for distinguishing of gunpowder samples.

Josephson junction (JJ) can be used as the criterion in single-block super wide band frequency-meter and as the sensitive element in the super wide band panoramic receiver. There presented the theoretical and experimental investigations and described the innovation decision about to combine both devices in one new microwave device. JJ in this case works in self-pump mode regime. New device can be especially convenient for the experimental purposes with new generation structures when radiated power is small and frequency are unknown correctly.

90° and 180°-switched-line phase shifters using composite right/left handed transmission line (CRLH TL) are presented. To achieve a relatively constant phase shift over a large bandwidth, CRLH TLs implemented using lumped elements and right-handed transmission lines (RH TLs) are used as the reference and delay arms, respectively, of the phase shifters. Computer simulation is used to study and design the phase shifters. The phase shifters are also fabricated and measured to verify the simulation results. For comparison, traditional 90° and 180°-switched-line phase shifters are also designed and simulated. Simulation and measurement results show that, the proposed phase shifters have a constant phase shift, a high return loss and a low insertion loss across the operating frequency band.

This paper investigates the application of the CLEAN non–linear deconvolution method to Late Time Response (LTR) analysis for detecting multiple objects in Concealed Threat Detection (CTD). When an Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) frequency radar signal is used to illuminate a conductive target, surface currents are induced upon the object which in turn give rise to LTR signals. These signals are re-radiated from the target and the results from a number of targets are presented. The experiment was performed using double ridged horn antenna in a pseudo-monostatic arrangement. A Vector network analyser (VNA) has been used to provide the UWB Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar signal. The distance between the transmitting antenna and the target objects has been kept at 1 metre for all the experiments performed and the power level at the VNA was set to 0dBm. The targets in the experimental setup are suspended in air in a laboratory environment. Matlab has been used in post processing to perform linear and non-linear deconvolution of the signal. The Wiener filter, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) are used to process the return signals and extract the LTR features from the noise clutter. A Generalized Pencil-of-Function (GPOF) method was then used to extract the complex poles of the signal. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) have been used to classify the data.

This paper examines the suitability and potential of reducing the acquisition requirements of a novel radiation mapper through the application of the non-linear deconvolution technique, CLEAN. The radiation mapper generates a threshold image of the target scene, at a user defined distance, using a single pixel detector manually scanned across the scene . This paper provides a discussion of the factors involved and merits of incorporating CLEAN into the system. In this paper we describe the modifications to the system for the generation of an intensity map and the relationship between resolution and acquisition time for a target scene. The factors influencing image fidelity for a scene are identified and discussed with the impact on fill-factor of the intensity image, which in turn determines the ability of the operator to accurately identify features of the radiation source within a target scene. The CLEAN algorithm and its variants have been extensively developed by the radio astronomy community to improve the image fidelity of data collected by sparse interferometric arrays. However, the algorithm has demonstrated surprising adaptability including terrestrial imagery, as detailed in Taylor et al. SPIE 9078-19 and Bose et al., IEEE 2002. CLEAN can be applied directly to raw data via a bespoke algorithm. However, this investigation is a proof-of-concept and thus requires a well tested verification method. We have opted to use the public ally available implementation of CLEAN found in the Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) package. The use of CASA for this purpose dictates the use of simulated input data and radio astronomy standard parameters. Finally, this paper presents the results of applying CLEAN to our simulated target scene, with a discussion of the potential merits a bespoke implementation would yield.

As it is well-known, the passive THz camera allows seeing concealed object without contact with a person and this camera is non-dangerous for a person. Obviously, efficiency of using the passive THz camera depends on its temperature resolution. This characteristic specifies possibilities of the detection for concealed object: minimal size of the object; maximal distance of the detection; image quality. Computer processing of the THz image may lead to many times improving of the image quality without any additional engineering efforts. Therefore, developing of modern computer code for its application to THz images is urgent problem. Using appropriate new methods one may expect such temperature resolution which will allow to see banknote in pocket of a person without any real contact. Modern algorithms for computer processing of THz images allow also to see object inside the human body using a temperature trace on the human skin. This circumstance enhances essentially opportunity of passive THz camera applications for counterterrorism problems. We demonstrate opportunities, achieved at present time, for the detection both of concealed objects and of clothes components due to using of computer processing of images captured by passive THz cameras, manufactured by various companies. Another important result discussed in the paper consists in observation of both THz radiation emitted by incandescent lamp and image reflected from ceramic floorplate. We consider images produced by THz passive cameras manufactured by Microsemi Corp., and ThruVision Corp., and Capital Normal University (Beijing, China). All algorithms for computer processing of the THz images under consideration in this paper were developed by Russian part of author list. Keywords: THz wave, passive imaging camera, computer processing, security screening, concealed and forbidden objects, reflected image, hand seeing, banknote seeing, ceramic floorplate, incandescent lamp.

Aiming at solving the problem of detecting the wideband chirp signals under low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) condition, an effective signal detection algorithm based on Short-Time-Fourier-Transform (STFT) is proposed. Considering the characteristic of dispersion of noise spectrum and concentration of chirp spectrum, STFT is performed on chirp signals with Gauss window by fixed step, and these frequencies of peak spectrum obtained from every STFT are in correspondence to the time of every stepped window. Then, the frequencies are binarized and the approach similar to mnk method in time domain is used to detect the chirp pulse signal and determine the coarse starting time and ending time. Finally, the data segments, where the former starting time and ending time locate, are subdivided into many segments evenly, on which the STFT is implemented respectively. By that, the precise starting and ending time are attained. Simulations shows that when the SNR is higher than -28dB, the detection probability is not less than 99% and false alarm probability is zero, and also good estimation accuracy of starting and ending time is acquired. The algorithm is easy to realize and surpasses FFT in computation when the width of STFT window and step length are selected properly, so the presented algorithm has good engineering value.

In this paper the effects of orbits motion makes for scattering centers trajectory is analyzed, and introduced to scattering centers association, as a constraint. A screening method of feature points is presented to analysis the false points of reconstructed result, and the wrong association which lead these false points. The loop iteration between 3D reconstruction and association result makes the precision of final reconstructed result have a further improvement. The simulation data shows the validity of the algorithm.

In this paper, an X-band, 8-element wideband digital array radar (DAR) test-bed is presented, which makes use of a novel digital backend coupled with highly-integrated, multi-channel intermediate frequency (IF) digital receiver. Radar returns are received by the broadband antenna and then down-converted to the IF of 0.6GHz-3.0GHz. Four band-pass filters are applied in the front-end to divide the IF returns into four frequency bands with the instantaneous bandwidth of 500MHz. Every four array elements utilize a digital receiver, which is focused in this paper. The digital receivers are designed in a compact and flexible manner to meet the demands of DAR system. Each receiver consists of a fourchannel ADC, a high-performance FPGA, four DDR3 chips and two optical transceivers. With the sampling rate of up to 1.2GHz each channel, the ADC is capable of directly sampling the IF returns of four array elements at 10bits. In addition to serving as FIFO and controller, the onboard FPGA is also utilized for the implementation of various real-time algorithms such as DDC and channel calibration. Data is converted to bit stream and transferred through two low overhead, high data rate and multi-channel optical transceivers. Key technologies such as channel calibration and wideband DOA are studied with the measured data which is obtained in the experiments to illustrate the functionality of the system.

Migration through resolution cells (MTRC) is generated in high-resolution inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging. A MTRC compensation algorithm for high-resolution ISAR imaging based on improved polar format algorithm (PFA) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, in the situation that a rigid-body target stably flies, the initial value of the rotation angle and center of the target is obtained from the rotation of radar line of sight (RLOS) and high range resolution profile (HRRP). Then, the PFA is iteratively applied to the echo data to search the optimization solution based on minimum entropy criterion. The procedure starts with the estimated initial rotation angle and center, and terminated when the entropy of the compensated ISAR image is minimized. To reduce the computational load, the 2-D iterative search is divided into two 1-D search. One is carried along the rotation angle and the other one is carried along rotation center. Each of the 1-D searches is realized by using of the golden section search method. The accurate rotation angle and center can be obtained when the iterative search terminates. Finally, apply the PFA to compensate the MTRC by the use of the obtained optimized rotation angle and center. After MTRC compensation, the ISAR image can be best focused. Simulated and real data demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm.

High-TC superconducting (HTS) hot electron bolometers (HEB) are promising THz mixers due to their large expected bandwidth and low local oscillator (LO) power requirements at 60-80 K operating temperature. To obtain HEB efficient mixing, it is mandatory to grow very thin high quality HTS films leading to good micro or nano-bolometer superconducting properties. The challenge for Y-Ba-Cu-O resides, however, in the chemical reactivity of the material and the related aging effects. Early HEB models described the device in terms of thermal reservoirs only, namely the electrons and the phonons of the superconductor. The electron-phonon interaction time, which drives the HEB mixer ultimate response, is 1-2 ps for Y-Ba-Cu-O, with an expected bandwidth close to 100 GHz. Recently, we introduced the hot spot model for Y-Ba-Cu-O HEBs, taking - more realistically - the spatial dependence of the electron temperature along the nano-bolometer (or constriction) length into account. From DC analysis, the I-V characteristics could be deduced. In this paper, we further consider a full description of the constriction impedance at THz frequencies, which allows to work out the mixer performance in terms of double sideband noise temperature TDSB and conversion gain G. For a constriction of technologically achievable dimensions, i.e., 400 nm long x 400 nm wide x 35 nm thick, minimum T_DSB = 1900 K at 9 μW LO power, with G = -9.5 dB, is obtained at 400 GHz, assuming impedance matching with a selfcomplementary planar antenna.

Terahertz radiation is within the frequency range from 100 GHz to 10THz. This radiation has specific characteristics in terms of imaging. The radiation is harmless to the human body because the energy transferred by electromagnetic waves in this range of frequencies are very small thus there is no ionization of matter. The development of imaging devices and exploration of new spectral bands is a chance to introduce new equipment for assuring public safety. It has been proved that objects hidden under clothing can be detected and visualized using terahertz (THz) cameras. However, passive THz cameras still offer too low image resolution for objects recognition. In order to determine the properties of terahertz imaging for detection of hidden objects several aspects need to be considered. Taking into account the fact that the image captured by the terahertz camera reflects the spatial distribution of the relative temperature of the observed objects, the effect of the measurement time on the imaging capabilities should be examined. A very important aspect is the influence of the type (material composition) of coating material, as well as the type of an object hidden under clothing (size and material). The purpose of the studies is to investigate the time stability of passive THz imaging on 250 GHz for detection of concealed objects. In the article, we present the measurement setup, the measurement methodology as well as the initial results of measurements with various types of clothing and test objects.

Radar imaging is an ill-posed linear inverse problem and compressed sensing (CS) has been proved to have tremendous potential in this field. This paper surveys the theory of radar imaging and a conclusion is drawn that the processing of ISAR imaging can be denoted mathematically as a problem of 2D sparse decomposition. Based on CS, we propose a novel measuring strategy for ISAR imaging radar and utilize random sub-sampling in both range and azimuth dimensions, which will reduce the amount of sampling data tremendously. In order to handle 2D reconstructing problem, the ordinary solution is converting the 2D problem into 1D by Kronecker product, which will increase the size of dictionary and computational cost sharply. In this paper, we introduce the 2D-SL0 algorithm into the reconstruction of imaging. It is proved that 2D-SL0 can achieve equivalent result as other 1D reconstructing methods, but the computational complexity and memory usage is reduced significantly. Moreover, we will state the results of simulating experiments and prove the effectiveness and feasibility of our method.

This paper proposes a new image registration method based on grade-by-grade matching in interferometric inverse synthetic aperture radar (InISAR) imaging system using two antennas. The causation and quantitative analysis of the offset between two ISAR images for different antennas along each baseline is analyzed. Strong scatterer centers (SSCs) are extracted from the ISAR images of each antenna by OTSU method firstly. A standard matching is calculated by the image centroid. Then a mapping of region of interest (ROI) and correlation is carried out to get the precise registration. Simulation results demonstrate that the offset between two ISAR images can be compensated effectively when the proposed method is used, achieving a high quality 3D InISAR image consequently.