High-speed millimeter-wave active incoherent fourier domain imaging
Millimeter-wave imaging is used in applications such as security screening, remote sensing, medical imaging, and non-destructive testing due to the good penetration characteristics of millimeter-wave radiation which can provide "see-through" capabilities. Electromagnetic signals in the frequency range of 30-300 GHz can penetrate easily through materials like clothing, fog, and smoke, and at the same time provide image reconstruction with fine spatial resolution. Millimeter-wave imaging is typically implemented by means of mechanical or electrical scanning which requires long data acquisition times or a large number of active components. Computational imaging can reduce both the data acquisition time and the number of active components, but this comes at the cost of heavy computational loads, which makes real-time operation challenging. Passive millimeter-wave imaging systems that capture thermal signals and operate similarly to optical cameras, are very costly because they need to employ highly sensitive receivers due to thermal radiation being extremely low power at millimeter-wave frequencies. A paradigm shift is needed in order to advance the current imaging modalities in millimeter-wave frequencies.In this dissertation, I present a newly developed millimeter-wave imaging technique called active incoherent millimeter-wave (AIM) imaging which combines the benefits of active and passive millimeter-wave imaging. This approach combines the high signal-to-noise ratio capabilities of active millimeter-wave imaging systems with the fast image formation potential of passive millimeter-wave imaging systems. The combination is achieved by illuminating the scene with multiple spatially distributed noise transmitters that mimic the randomness of thermal radiation. Because the concept of incoherent noise illumination has not been investigated thoroughly in the literature of millimeter-wave imaging, I discuss design considerations for creating a space-time incoherent transmitter and novel measurements for characterizing space-time incoherence. Starting from my earlier work in microwave frequencies, I present the system design and calibration approach, along with an experimental demonstration of a millimeter-wave active incoherent digital array. The array is capable of generating millimeter-wave video at very high frame rates, and millimeter-wave imaging results of 652 frames per second of a sphere moving in a pendulum motion are included. The scenario of using the stray reflections from a small set of communications transmitters is also examined and I present results using WiFi and fifth-generation (5G) communications signals. I also expand interferometric imaging to three dimensions using a novel pulse modulation as an envelope on the noise signals to provide differentiation along the range dimension. Prior to this work, three-dimensional interferometric millimeter-wave imaging had only been implemented in the near-field region or using three-dimensional volumetric arrays, which pose significant size and volume concerns. A new algorithm for three-dimensional interferometric image formation is presented along with simulated results and experimental measurements.
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- In Collections
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Electronic Theses & Dissertations
- Copyright Status
- In Copyright
- Material Type
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Theses
- Authors
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Vakalis, Stavros
- Thesis Advisors
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Nanzer, Jeffrey A.
- Committee Members
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Rothwell, Edward
Aviyente, Selin
Yan, Ming
- Date Published
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2022
- Subjects
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Electromagnetism
Electrical engineering
Millimeter wave devices
Noise generators (Electronics)
Interferometry
- Program of Study
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Electrical Engineering - Doctor of Philosophy
- Degree Level
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Doctoral
- Language
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English
- Pages
- xix, 151 pages
- ISBN
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9798837521843
- Permalink
- https://doi.org/doi:10.25335/hpz3-7029