Active millimeter wave detection of concealed layers of dielectric material

N. J. Bowring; J. G. Baker; N. D. Rezgui; M. Southgate; J. F. Alder

doi:10.1117/12.719268

4 May 2007 Active millimeter wave detection of concealed layers of dielectric material

N. J. Bowring, J. G. Baker, N. D. Rezgui, M. Southgate, J. F. Alder

Proceedings Volume 6540, Optics and Photonics in Global Homeland Security III; 65401M (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.719268
Event: Defense and Security Symposium, 2007, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Extensive work has been published on millimetre wave active and passive detection and imaging of metallic objects concealed under clothing. We propose and demonstrate a technique for revealing the depth as well as the outline of partially transparent objects, which is especially suited to imaging layer materials such as explosives and drugs. The technique uses a focussed and scanned FMCW source, swept through many GHz to reveal this structure. The principle involved is that a parallel sided dielectric slab produces reflections at both its upper and lower surfaces, acting as a Fabry-Perot interferometer. This produces a pattern of alternating reflected peaks and troughs in frequency space. Fourier or Burg transforming this pattern into z-space generates a peak at the thickness of the irradiated sample. It could be argued that though such a technique may work for single uniform slabs of dielectric material, it will give results of little or no significance when the sample both scatters the incident radiation and gives erratic reflectivities due to its non-uniform thickness and permittivity . We show results for a variety of materials such as explosive simulants, powder and drugs, both alone and concealed under clothing or in a rucksack, which display strongly directional reflectivities at millimeter wavelengths, and whose location is well displayed by a varying thickness parameter as the millimetre beam is scanned across the target. With this system we find that samples can easily be detected at standoff distances of at least 4.6m.

Citation Download Citation

N. J. Bowring, J. G. Baker, N. D. Rezgui, M. Southgate, and J. F. Alder "Active millimeter wave detection of concealed layers of dielectric material", Proc. SPIE 6540, Optics and Photonics in Global Homeland Security III, 65401M (4 May 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.719268

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