US20160116581A1 - Standoff screening apparatus for detection of concealed weapons - Google Patents
Standoff screening apparatus for detection of concealed weapons Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20160116581A1 US20160116581A1 US13/794,449 US201313794449A US2016116581A1 US 20160116581 A1 US20160116581 A1 US 20160116581A1 US 201313794449 A US201313794449 A US 201313794449A US 2016116581 A1 US2016116581 A1 US 2016116581A1
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- radar transceivers
- array
- radar
- transceivers
- antenna
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
- 238000012216 screening Methods 0.000 title abstract description 10
- 238000001514 detection method Methods 0.000 title description 6
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 27
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims description 20
- 230000010287 polarization Effects 0.000 claims description 11
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 claims description 8
- 230000001360 synchronised effect Effects 0.000 claims description 7
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 claims description 5
- 238000003384 imaging method Methods 0.000 abstract description 14
- 238000005516 engineering process Methods 0.000 abstract description 6
- 239000002360 explosive Substances 0.000 abstract description 4
- 238000012544 monitoring process Methods 0.000 abstract description 4
- 238000003491 array Methods 0.000 description 14
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 11
- 238000002955 isolation Methods 0.000 description 5
- 230000005855 radiation Effects 0.000 description 5
- 238000012360 testing method Methods 0.000 description 5
- 238000005388 cross polarization Methods 0.000 description 4
- 230000007704 transition Effects 0.000 description 4
- 238000004458 analytical method Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000033001 locomotion Effects 0.000 description 3
- 229910000577 Silicon-germanium Inorganic materials 0.000 description 2
- 230000008901 benefit Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000006243 chemical reaction Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000006872 improvement Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000003780 insertion Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000037431 insertion Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000005070 sampling Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000013077 target material Substances 0.000 description 2
- 206010073306 Exposure to radiation Diseases 0.000 description 1
- LEVVHYCKPQWKOP-UHFFFAOYSA-N [Si].[Ge] Chemical compound [Si].[Ge] LEVVHYCKPQWKOP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 230000015556 catabolic process Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000000295 complement effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000002131 composite material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000008878 coupling Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000010168 coupling process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000005859 coupling reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000001186 cumulative effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000006731 degradation reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000004069 differentiation Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000005684 electric field Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000005265 energy consumption Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000009434 installation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000010354 integration Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000010985 leather Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000007774 longterm Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000013178 mathematical model Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000011159 matrix material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000005259 measurement Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910044991 metal oxide Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 150000004706 metal oxides Chemical class 0.000 description 1
- 238000013508 migration Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000005012 migration Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229910052755 nonmetal Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 238000011084 recovery Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000009467 reduction Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000029058 respiratory gaseous exchange Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000035945 sensitivity Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000004088 simulation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000000758 substrate Substances 0.000 description 1
- 125000000391 vinyl group Chemical group [H]C([*])=C([H])[H] 0.000 description 1
- 229920002554 vinyl polymer Polymers 0.000 description 1
- 230000000007 visual effect Effects 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S13/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified
- G01S13/88—Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications
- G01S13/887—Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications for detection of concealed objects, e.g. contraband or weapons
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S13/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified
- G01S13/02—Systems using reflection of radio waves, e.g. primary radar systems; Analogous systems
- G01S13/0209—Systems with very large relative bandwidth, i.e. larger than 10 %, e.g. baseband, pulse, carrier-free, ultrawideband
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S13/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified
- G01S13/88—Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications
- G01S13/89—Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications for mapping or imaging
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/02—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S13/00
- G01S7/024—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S13/00 using polarisation effects
- G01S7/026—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S13/00 using polarisation effects involving the transmission of elliptically or circularly polarised waves
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/02—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S13/00
- G01S7/04—Display arrangements
- G01S7/06—Cathode-ray tube displays or other two dimensional or three-dimensional displays
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/02—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S13/00
- G01S7/41—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S13/00 using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation; Target signature; Target cross-section
- G01S7/411—Identification of targets based on measurements of radar reflectivity
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
- H01Q21/0006—Particular feeding systems
- H01Q21/0075—Stripline fed arrays
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
- H01Q21/00—Antenna arrays or systems
- H01Q21/06—Arrays of individually energised antenna units similarly polarised and spaced apart
- H01Q21/061—Two dimensional planar arrays
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S13/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified
- G01S13/02—Systems using reflection of radio waves, e.g. primary radar systems; Analogous systems
- G01S13/04—Systems determining presence of a target
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
- G01S7/02—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S13/00
- G01S7/024—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S13/00 using polarisation effects
Definitions
- Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to radar imaging systems and, more particularly, to security screening of individuals using ultra wideband radar incorporating integrated wafer scale, right hand circularly polarized (RHCP) and left hand circularly polarized (LHCP) antenna arrays.
- RHCP right hand circularly polarized
- LHCP left hand circularly polarized
- IED improvised explosive devices
- X-ray technology has been used, for example, for airport screening but presents a number of issues, such as cumulative over exposure to radiation for airport and airline personnel and concerns over personal privacy, that have led to a search for other technologies and methods for addressing these security issues.
- An additional need for readily deployable detectors may arise for places where such detection may not normally be in use or available—such as public gatherings, voting lines, entrances of stadiums, religious gathering places, banks, and markets, for example.
- FIG. 1 is a perspective view diagram illustrating a scanning system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
- FIG. 2 is a plan view diagram showing part of the scanning system of FIG. 1 , in accordance with one embodiment.
- FIGS. 3A and 3B are elevation view diagrams illustrating examples of alternative scanner configurations for a scanning system and examples of imaging, in accordance with one or more embodiments.
- FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a radar transceiver for a scanning system, in accordance with an embodiment.
- FIG. 5 is a system block diagram illustrating a scanning system, in accordance with one or more embodiments.
- FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are system block diagrams illustrating examples of alternative embodiments of a scanning system, in accordance with one or more embodiments.
- FIG. 7 is a state transition diagram for software for a scanning system in accordance with an embodiment.
- FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating resolution estimation for a scanning system in accordance with one or more embodiments.
- FIG. 9 is a plan view diagram showing antenna element and feed network layout for a circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna array, in accordance with an embodiment.
- FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C are, respectively, graphs at each of three different frequencies showing co-polarization and cross polarization radiation patterns for left-hand circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna arrays, in accordance with one or more embodiments.
- FIG. 11 is a graph illustrating axial ratio vs. frequency for a circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna array, in accordance with an embodiment.
- FIG. 12A is a perspective view showing a radar system with a calibration target for a scanning system
- FIG. 12B is a perspective view showing a variety of test or calibration targets
- FIG. 12C is a graph of reflection waveforms using a first test combination of antennas
- FIG. 12D is a graph of reflection waveforms using a second test combination of antennas, in accordance with one or more embodiments.
- UWB radar sensing and imaging systems that employ wafer scale (e.g., less than 2.0 inches in side dimension for the antenna array) active array antennas.
- wafer scale e.g., less than 2.0 inches in side dimension for the antenna array
- Such small scale UWB radar sensing and imaging systems can find application to many types of security concerns, such as screening people for concealed weapons (including non-metallic weapons) or explosives at airports and other public buildings.
- One or more embodiments may provide a walk-through scanning station for screening individuals that can detect, for example, an improvised explosive device (IED) concealed on a person, yet may be considered as being non-invasive of privacy.
- IED improvised explosive device
- the scanning station may employ an easy-to-set-up pair of panels that may require no more than 15 minutes of installation time in order to be ready to be used and that may be readily deployed, for example, around the entrances of stadiums, government agency offices, banks, voting lines, religious gathering places, markets, public gatherings, and high impact assets.
- One or more embodiments may provide an advanced portable imaging technology with automated threat recognition that may be desirable and of use to government agencies and other security providers.
- One or more embodiments may include a system for screening, in which a subject enters a scanning area located between two vertical panels and having, for example, a horizontal footprint of about 3 feet (ft.) by 3 ft. with a vertical height of about 8 ft. The subject may be asked to stand still and then to turn 90 degrees and stand still for about 3 to 5 seconds.
- the two panels may capture front, back, and side radio frequency (RF) images of the subject employing a V-band RF system.
- RF radio frequency
- the laptop may communicate with the scanning apparatus through a secure connection using, for example, WiFi (e.g., based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards) or 4G (e.g., G3/G4 LTE—Generation 3 or Generation 4 Long Term Evolution), and the laptop or scanning apparatus may also be connected to a remote command and monitoring station.
- WiFi e.g., based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards
- 4G e.g., G3/G4 LTE—Generation 3 or Generation 4 Long Term Evolution
- the area within a distance very close to the antenna aperture may be that which is mostly used.
- the radiation field of the antenna in this area which may be characterized by a range that is roughly the same as or smaller than the width of the antenna aperture itself, appears not to be very well investigated in the field of UWB radar imaging, possibly due, at least in part, to the difficulty in measuring signals at such close range.
- subjects in this area close to or within an aperture width of the antennas may be imaged by the use of several single chip radar transceivers employed in an array.
- detection and imaging in this extreme near-field may be implemented by direct calibration with the use of reflectors positioned at known locations in the image.
- One or more embodiments may include implementation of a fully integrated, FCC compliant scanner including a transmitter (TX) fully integrated with an array of power amplifiers (PA) and corresponding antenna arrays to form spatial power combining and narrow beam forming; and including a receiver (RX) fully integrated with an array of low noise amplifiers (LNA) and corresponding antenna arrays to form spatial power combining from a reflected signal.
- TX transmitter
- RX receiver
- LNA low noise amplifiers
- One or more embodiments may include implementation of an array of polarized miniature antenna elements that enable system capabilities for analysis of target material and differentiation and classification of target material according to radar signature profiles.
- One or more embodiments may include implementation of a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based processor to process multiplexing transmitted impulse signals and synchronized received reflections for a target (e.g., person's body) subject to the scan.
- FPGA field programmable gate array
- One or more embodiments may provide “stick diagram” presentation coupled with audio alarms or other abstraction of visual screen information from scanned data to circumvent privacy issues and concerns.
- One or more embodiments may provide significant improvement in size-weight-and-power (SWAP)—e.g., reductions in volume of space occupied by the scanning apparatus; transportation weight of the apparatus; and electrical power consumption—compared to existing x-ray scanners used in airports, for example.
- SWAP size-weight-and-power
- One or more embodiments may provide significant improvement in set up time at required at any location of deployment.
- One or more embodiments may provide scalability to enhance detection resolution by allowing migration to implementations using W-band technology from implementations using, for example, X-band or V
- One or more embodiments may include implementation of an active antenna array (e.g., antenna-amplifier array) including a fully integrated feed network with associated power amplifiers that transmit (or low noise amplifiers to receive) a radar signal in X-band (e.g., about 8-12 giga-Hertz (GHz)), V-band (e.g., about 40-75 giga-Hertz (GHz)), E-band (e.g., including two bands of about 71-76 and 81-86 GHz), W-band (e.g., about 75-110 GHz), or terahertz (e.g., about 300-3000 GHz) frequency bands.
- X-band e.g., about 8-12 giga-Hertz (GHz)
- V-band e.g., about 40-75 giga-Hertz (GHz)
- E-band e.g., including two bands of about 71-76 and 81-86 GHz
- W-band e.g., about 75-110 GHz
- One or more embodiments may employ 5 GHz ultra wideband (UWB) radar operating at 1-6 GHz, for example, or 3-6 GHz.
- UWB ultra wideband
- One or more embodiments may include integrated ultra wideband, wafer scale, right hand circularly polarized (RHCP) or left hand circularly polarized (LHCP) antenna elements, using spiral plate antenna elements, for beam forming and beam steering.
- One or more embodiments may include ultra wideband, wafer scale, RHCP and LHCP antenna arrays in which side lobes are at least 20 decibels (dB) suppressed.
- dB decibels
- One or more embodiments may include ultra wideband, wafer scale, RHCP and LHCP antenna arrays in which cross polarization is at least 20 dB suppressed.
- One or more embodiments provide the capability to modify the cross polarization and array gain, and tune the antenna array for optimum insertion loss by controlling spiral design variables.
- One or more embodiments provide the capability to modify the feed network to tune the antenna array for optimum insertion loss.
- One or more embodiments may include integration of the wafer scale RHCP layer antenna array with another layer of LHCP array on top (or bottom).
- integrated RHCP and LHCP layers may operate as a wafer scale antenna module that can transmit through the LHCP (or RHCP) array and receive waves in the LHCP array as well as the RHCP array.
- FIG. 1 illustrates a scanning system 100 , showing a subject 102 (e.g., an individual person) positioned between a first panel 104 and a second panel 106 .
- Subject 102 may, for example, walk between first panel 104 and second panel 106 , and may stop for a brief period of time (e.g., from a few seconds to a minute or two) between the panels.
- Subject 102 also may turn to face various directions while remaining between first panel 104 and second panel 106 .
- the panels may occupy a “footprint” area approximately 5 ft. by 5 ft. square, with a footprint for the entire system 100 that may be approximately 10 ft. by 10 ft.
- first panel 104 and second panel 106 square, with a space of about 4 ft. wide between first panel 104 and second panel 106 , and with the height of each panel being about 7 to 8 ft.
- the weight of panels 104 , 106 may be kept under about 240 pounds (lbs.) to facilitate transportability.
- the panels 104 , 106 may constructed so as to be readily installed (e.g., set up and secured) in the position shown in about 15 minutes, to be resistant to wind speeds up to about 20 miles per hour (mph).
- the panels 104 , 106 also may be constructed to support the weight of a radar transceiver array 110 and to provide mechanical apparatus 112 —such as rails, belt drive, and stepper motor—for moving the array 110 up and down the entire height (or any portion) of panel 104 or panel 106 .
- radar transceiver array 110 may also be a rectangular array of radar transceivers disposed so as to occupy the entire surface of panel 104 or panel 106 so that no movement of radar transceiver array 110 is needed for scanning subject 102 .
- Radar transceiver array 110 may be provided on both panels 104 and 106 .
- Each radar transceiver of radar transceiver array 110 may be a UWB radar transceiver operating at a center frequency, for example, of about 60 GHz.
- For each panel, e.g., panel 104 or panel 106 only one of the radar transceivers of radar transceiver array 110 may be used as a transmitter and all of the radar transceivers of radar transceiver array 110 may be used as receivers.
- System 100 may also provide a display 120 , in communication with radar transceiver array 110 , for displaying a processed radar image 122 of subject 102 .
- Display 120 may be attached to or supported in proximity to one of the panels 104 , 106 , as shown, or may be remotely located and communicate with radar transceiver array 110 via, for example, a secure, wireless connection, as described above.
- image 122 may be provided by display 120 as an abstract figure (e.g., outline or line drawing type of image of subject 102 as opposed to a photographic type image of subject 102 ).
- FIG. 2 shows a top view of panels 104 , 106 of scanning system 100 , with a subject 102 standing between the panels 104 , 106 .
- width of radar transceiver arrays 110 may be about 1.2 meters (m) and subject 102 may be no more than about 0.4 m from radar transceivers (e.g., from an antenna element of a radar transceiver) of radar transceiver array 110 .
- the aperture of radar transceiver array 110 may be about 1.2 m and subject 102 may be well within an aperture distance (0.4 m ⁇ 1.2 m) of radar transceiver array 110 , e.g., subject 102 is within a range smaller than the width of the aperture itself, or in what is referred to above as “extreme near-field” of radar transceiver array 110 .
- FIGS. 3A and 3B are side views illustrating examples of alternative configurations for radar transceiver array 110 for either of panel 104 or panel 106 .
- FIG. 3A illustrates an example of a rectangular radar transceiver array 110 having 64 horizontal rows of radar transceivers with 24 radar transceivers in each row.
- an implementation with a rectangular radar transceiver array 110 as shown in FIG. 3A may provide a fully electronic scanning system using an array of 24 ⁇ 64 (1,536) transceivers 1000 (e.g., transceiver with polarized antenna array pairs).
- the rectangular radar transceiver array 110 may be arranged as shown to cover a scanning area defined by panels 104 , 106 .
- the outline of panels 104 or 106 may be sufficient to surround a full size radar image of a subject 102 , as shown, thus defining the area to be scanned and imaged behind or between panels 104 , 106 .
- FIG. 3B illustrates another example of a radar transceiver array 110 having a single horizontal row of radar transceivers with 24 radar transceivers in the single row to form radar transceiver array 110 as a linear array.
- the linear array may be moved (e.g., using mechanical apparatus 112 which may include a track or rails, belt drive, and stepper motor) up and down, as indicated by arrows 113 , so that the linear array can be used, for example, to scan the entire scanning area covered by rectangular radar transceiver array 110 shown in FIG. 3A , e.g., the entire scanning area defined by panels 104 , 106 .
- FIG. 4 illustrates a radar transceiver 1000 that may be included in an array of radar transceivers, e.g., radar transceiver array 110 , for a scanning system 100 .
- Radar transceiver 1000 may employ an ultra-wideband, or UWB, V-band RF module 1010 , which interfaces to a primary microwave, UWB, GHz RF, and digital signal processor (DSP) processing unit 1020 .
- Primary processing unit 1020 may provide a 5 GHz UWB scanner system.
- the 5 GHz (bandwidth) scanner system of primary processing unit 1020 may operate at 3 to 6 GHz.
- Another, alternative implementation of the scanner system of primary processing unit 1020 may operate at 1 to 6 GHz.
- the microwave UWB RF sensor primary processing unit 1020 may be configured to process reflected signals from an object.
- the millimeter-wave, V-band RF module 1010 may provide the capability for a compact system 100 with miniaturized polarized antenna arrays 1030 that can provide such capabilities as material analysis using radar signature profiles.
- the V-band scanner, e.g., V-band RF module 1010 may operate at 57 to 64 GHz using up (transmit) and down (receive) conversion with the GHz RF module, e.g., primary processing unit 1020 .
- V-band RF module 1010 may include an up-converter 1012 and a down-converter 1014 , as shown, with a local oscillator 1016 , for converting between the operating frequencies of UWB RF sensor primary processing unit 1020 and the operating frequency desired to be used at antenna arrays 1030 .
- V-band is used only as an example for illustration purposes.
- V-band RF module 1010 may provide up and down conversion for operation at other frequencies, e.g., X-band, V-band, E-band, W-band, or terahertz frequency bands.
- Primary processing unit 1020 may include a local oscillator 1023 that provides timing signals to impulse train module 1024 and timing recovery module 1025 .
- Primary processing unit 1020 may include a correlator 1026 and a signal processor 1028 (e.g., DSP).
- radar transceiver 1000 may include an Ethernet interface 1022 in communication with signal processor 1028 so that the primary processing unit 1020 of each radar transceiver 1000 of radar transceiver array 110 can communicate its data for further processing.
- Radar transceiver 1000 may transmit narrow radio frequency (RE) pulses at a certain pulse repetition frequency (PRF).
- PRF pulse repetition frequency
- transceiver 1000 may emit RE radiation in the form of rapid wideband (narrow width) radar pulses at a chosen pulse repetition frequency (PRF) in the 1-100 MHz band.
- the pulses can penetrate various kinds of material—such as clothing, vinyl, and leather, that could be used for concealing contraband—with varying attenuation constant.
- Transceiver 1000 may, for example, transmit Gaussian pulses as short as 100 pico-seconds wide with center frequency in the 1-10 GHz band.
- Transceiver 1000 may receive radar signals and perform the required signal processing on a reflected pulse response to construct a digitized representation of the subject 102 (including, e.g., a concealed TED).
- Primary processing unit 1020 may extract and digitally process received amplitude and delay information.
- Antenna array 1030 may include a transmit array 1031 and a receive array 1033 .
- Transmit antenna array 1031 may be RHCP, as shown, or LHCP.
- Receive antenna array 1033 may be LHCP, as shown, or may be RHCP.
- Transmit antenna array 1031 and receive antenna array 1033 may have opposite polarizations, as shown, or may have the same polarization.
- Different combinations of polarization of the transmitter and receiver modules in the radar transceiver array 110 configuration may be used to optimize performance of the radar scanner system 100 for various applications. If the transmit signal in radar is circularly polarized, after a single metallic reflection the polarization may mirror, from left to right and vice versa. This mirroring could be an efficient way of detecting multiple reflections (e.g., from complex shapes) and single reflections (e.g., from simpler flat shapes) from objects under interrogation.
- Radar transceiver 1000 may employ a wafer scale antenna and wafer scale beam forming as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,312,763, issued Dec. 25, 2007, to Mohamadi and U.S. Pat. No. 7,548,205, issued Jun. 16, 2009, to Mohamadi and virtual beam forming as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,237,604, issued Aug. 7, 2012, to Mohamadi et al., all of which are incorporated by reference.
- Wafer scale antenna modules are disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 7,884,757, issued Feb. 8, 2011, to Mohamadi et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,830,989, issued Nov.
- FIG. 5 illustrates a scanning system 100 , in accordance with one or more embodiments.
- Scanning system 100 may include a number, N, of radar transceivers, such as radar transceiver 1000 illustrated in FIG. 4 .
- N may be any number.
- System 100 may use an array of transceivers 1000 in which each transceiver is a single chip radar transceiver realized in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process that may reduce the cost, weight, and energy consumption of system 100 compared to multi-chip radar transceiver implementations, may provide a set of completely isolated transceivers 1000 for system 100 , may provide modularity of the system, and may facilitate extension of its application to person-borne IEDs (PBIED) at extended ranges.
- CMOS complementary metal oxide semiconductor
- the system 100 may employ a linear array including one or more sets of eight single chip radar transceivers mounted on a single FR4 substrate printed circuit board. In one embodiment, three of the eight-single chip radar transceiver boards may be integrated to implement a 24-channels linear array for rapid millimeter-wave scan of the subject 102 .
- One of the transceivers may be used as a transmitter and all of the eight or 24 transceivers may be used as receivers.
- the transmitted pulse may be, for example, a first order Gaussian pulse with a center frequency of 4.35 GHz and a bandwidth greater than 2.5 GHz.
- the receivers may use a sampling on a continuous time binary value to achieve a sampling rate of 40 giga-samples per second (GS/s).
- Each transceiver 1000 may be connected via an Ethernet interface 1022 with a processor 130 that may, for example, perform processing that combines data from all transceivers 1000 —whether in a rectangular array or a linear array that is moved to scan the scanning area defined by panels 104 , 106 —to provide an image, such as image 122 , on a display 120 .
- System 100 may also include a supervisor monitoring system 125 that may communicate with processor 130 via a network 126 , as shown, which may include a private secure network, for example, or the Internet.
- an array of independent transceivers 1000 may be used for extreme near-field (as described above) imaging.
- an arrangement with an integrated IF (radar) board for each transceiver 1000 may operate at 1-10 GHz bandwidth.
- Results from a mathematical model of system 100 incorporating the inter-sample delay variations show that process variations are a strong influence on image degradation and a factor that is not easily rectified.
- the problem of inter-sample delay variations may be addressed by direct calibration of the system 100 using one or more reflectors 103 (also referred to as a calibration target) positioned at known locations in the image.
- FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C illustrate examples of alternative embodiments of a scanning system 100 .
- an array of 24 transceivers 1000 may be implemented by multiplexing from a single primary processing unit 1020 .
- the linear array of transceivers e.g., transceiver cells, each with polarized pair—e.g. one RHCP, one LHCP—of antenna arrays of 16 ⁇ 16 antenna elements
- one multiplexor-de-multiplexor (mux-demux) processor 132 may be deployed at the expense of mechanical scan time of 3-5 seconds. Each scan may be performed from top to bottom, or bottom to top.
- FIG. 6A shows a modified circuit of FIG.
- polarized arrays e.g., arranged as a linear array
- a step motor vertically increments the array 64 times for the entire height (e.g., 8 ft.) of the system 100 .
- rate of interrogation by the scanner may be modified such that the same number of impulses gets transmitted and received synchronously to all 24 pairs of polarized arrays.
- an array of 24 transceivers 1000 may be implemented by the use of double pole switches 135 with high isolation that may be included in an IF switch interface 134 to time the routing of the 3-6 GHz TX/RX IF signal from the radar (e.g., primary processing unit 1020 ) to 24 V-band TX/RX front ends (e.g., V-band RF modules 1010 ).
- FIG. 6B may show a low risk, low cost (e.g., only one radar core), and low power consumption implementation at the expense of 24 times longer scan time than that for 24 independent transceivers 1000 .
- Double pole switches 135 may be implemented, for example, on a chip in 130 nanometer (nm) 8HP (8HP is a proprietary name of IBM, Inc.) silicon germanium (SiGe) process that may be used to expand to a 1:24 matrix switch (e.g., IF switch interface 134 ). Because the routing may be done in IF (3-6 GHz), good isolation between channels (e.g., 24 channels) can be achieved (e.g., 40 dB isolation).
- IF 3-6 GHz
- an array of 24 transceivers 1000 may be implemented by the use of double pole switches 137 with high isolation may be included in an RF switch interface 136 to time the routing of the 3-6 GHz TX/RX signal from the radar (e.g., primary processing unit 1020 ) to its single V-band TX/RX (e.g., V-band RF module 1010 ) and then to all 24 array pairs (e.g., polarized antenna arrays 1030 ).
- FIG. 6C may show a moderate risk, low cost (e.g. only one radar core) implementation at the expense of 24 times longer scan time. The implementation of FIG. 6C may exhibit a lower power consumption and lower cost than even the implementation shown in FIG.
- the routing may be done in RF (57-64 GHz), good isolation—although possibly not as good as in the case of IF isolation—between channels can be achieved (e.g., about 20-30 dB isolation).
- FIG. 7 is a state transition diagram for software for a scanning system 100 in accordance with an embodiment.
- Software illustrated by FIG. 7 may include, for example, firmware and drivers operable with 5 GHz and 60 GHz RF imaging systems that can be used for detection in scanner system 100 of an TED or weapon carried by an individual (e.g., subject 102 ).
- the software may also be used for biorhythmic monitoring, e.g., biorhythmic pattern such as heartbeat and respiration, overlay with a composite video image, and detected RF image of suspected TED or weapon on an individual.
- Software operating on a processor 130 may provide various modes of functioning for scanning system 100 .
- states 1101 through 1105 may be entered when the system is in a scan mode
- states 1106 through 1111 may be entered when the system is in a motion mode. Toggling between the two modes may be provided, for example, by state transition 1120 which may be traversed in either direction between state 1102 and state 11006 .
- States 1103 , 1104 and states 1107 and 1108 may be entered, for example, when there is active radar transmission and the system may reside in any of the remaining states, e.g., 1101 , 1102 , 1105 , 1106 , 1109 , 1110 , or 1111 , when radar transmission is not active.
- the various states and transitions between them as illustrated by the example shown in FIG. 7 , may provide for a variety of methods of functioning, for example, of radar scanning system 100 .
- FIG. 8 illustrates resolution estimation for a radar scanning system 100 in which the range to the subject being scanned may be about the same or less than an aperture width of the radar scanner, in accordance with one or more embodiments.
- lateral resolutions e.g., horizontal resolutions for the radar transceiver array 110 , shown in FIG. 1, 3A , or 3 B, and having a width (D y ) of 1.2 m as shown in FIG. 2
- ⁇ d arcsin( ⁇ /D y )
- B R tan( ⁇ d ).
- radar scanning system can achieve less than 2 mm horizontal resolution at 60 GHz and 20 mm horizontal resolution at 5 GHz.
- the vertical resolution will be roughly half of the horizontal resolution as the vertical aperture—8 ft. or 2.4 m—is roughly twice the 2.1 m horizontal aperture. These fine resolutions may enable scanning system 100 to detect metal and non-metal structures reliably on the human body.
- the distance very close to the antenna aperture may be that which is used the most by scanning system 100 .
- the electric field at these distances which may be characterized by a range smaller than the width of the aperture itself, generally presents some difficulty in measuring signals at such close range.
- This extreme near-field area may be imaged by the use of several single chip radar transceivers 1000 employed in an array 110 . Some factors in determining the quality of a radar image are the down-range and cross-range resolutions, and the dynamic range.
- the down-range resolution, ⁇ r may be determined by the signal, or pulse, bandwidth, ⁇ f, as follows:
- ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ r c ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ 2 ⁇ c 2 ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ ⁇ f ( 1 )
- ⁇ is the pulse duration in seconds.
- k is a constant close to 1.0 that depends on the aperture and the measure of resolution.
- the cross-range resolution formula may be based on analysis for the narrow band, far-field case. Measurements for the wide-band, near-field case, however, may need to be compared to simulations of the system 100 .
- Dynamic range in a radar image may be defined as the ratio of the highest peak to the noise floor and may be governed by the number of transmitting and receiving antennas and the signal to noise ratio (SNR).
- SNR signal to noise ratio
- One commonly used method for measuring the dynamic range is the peak side lobe ratio (PSLR) that may compare the peak of the main lobe to the maximum value of the side lobes. The PSLR may be used for determining or comparing the dynamic range.
- PSLR peak side lobe ratio
- FIG. 9 illustrates an antenna element and feed network layout for a circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna array 300 , which may be used, for example, to implement antenna arrays 1030 .
- FIG. 9 shows an example configuration of 16-by-16 circularly polarized antenna array 300 , which may also be referred to as a “cell”.
- the total size of the 16-by-16 circularly polarized antenna array 300 may be about 42.5 mm-by-42.5 mm (about 1.7 inches), or even less.
- Scaling the 3-6 GHz UWB frequency to 57-64 GHz may allow antenna array 300 to be scaled at 100 times smaller footprint (e.g., linear dimension scaled at 1/10), while keeping the sensitivity of antenna array 300 intact.
- FIG. 9 also shows antenna element and feed network layout for the 16-by-16 antenna element array 300 , in accordance with an embodiment.
- Wafer scale antenna array 300 may be used, for example, to identify the phase of an object, in case that the array is used as part of a radar transmitter and receiver, e.g., radar transceiver 1000 .
- the array 300 may be fed from the center as seen in FIG. 9 , showing a central array feed 302 .
- Wafer scale antenna array 300 may include an H-tree feed network 304 , vias 306 , ground plane shield 308 , and UWB spiral antenna plates 310 as a 16-by-16 wafer-scale LHCP array.
- FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C present, respectively, graphs at each of three different frequencies showing co-polarization and cross polarization radiation patterns for a left-hand circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna array 300 , in accordance with one or more embodiments.
- Examples of measured radiation patterns of the 16-by-16 circularly polarized antenna array 300 are shown in FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C for LHCP-RHCP patterns appear similar—at frequencies of 57, 60, and 64 GHz, respectively. It may be seen from the graphs that the cross-polar component is lower than 10 dB over the design frequency range 57-64 GHz.
- the directive gain of the array in one embodiment may be higher than 28 dBi.
- FIG. 11 presents a graph illustrating axial ratio vs. frequency for a circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna array 300 , in accordance with an embodiment.
- the axial ratio (AR) of the 16-by-16 circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna array 300 is plotted as a function of frequency in FIG. 11 .
- AR axial ratio
- the AR bandwidth for the 16-by-16 circularly polarized antenna array 300 may be about 11%, about 4 percent wider than that (7%) for an isolated single element antenna.
- This AR bandwidth can cover the required frequency range from 57 to 64 GHz.
- the bandwidth enhancement may be due to the coupling between array elements, which may lead to an increase in on-axis AR bandwidth for scanning element patterns.
- FIG. 12A is a perspective view showing one or more radar transceivers 1000 with a calibration target, or reflector, 103 for a scanning system 100 .
- Different combinations of transmit and receive antenna polarizations may calibrated using the reflector 103 .
- both transmit and receive antennas may have the same polarization—e.g., either LHCP/LHCP or RHCP/RHCP—or the transmit and receive antennas may have opposite polarizations—e.g., either RHCP/LHCP or LHCP/RHCP, respectively.
- FIG. 12B is a perspective view showing a variety of reflectors or calibration targets 103 . Shown in FIG. 12B are different metallic shapes that may be used to calibrate the capabilities of various RHCP vs. LHCP combinations. In all of the cases, same polarization (e.g., RHCP/RHCP) results have been compared with differing polarization (e.g., RHCP/LHCP) results. Of note is that even though the cylinder surface for the reflector labeled Cylinder-1 is not flat, the reflections off of this cylinder are strong and comparable to L-shape objects' reflections (see, e.g., FIG. 12D ), which are flat. Such results may be explained by the sharp and narrow beam pattern of the 16-by-16 circularly polarized antenna array 300 , for which the illuminated surface of the cylinder is still highly reflective due to the narrow beam.
- FIG. 12C is a graph of reflection waveforms using a first test combination of antennas in which both transmit and receive antennas have the same polarization, for example, either LHCP/LHCP or RHCP/RHCP.
- FIG. 12D is a graph of reflection waveforms using a second test combination of antennas in which the transmit and receive antennas have opposite polarizations, for example, either RHCP/LHCP or LHCP/RHCP.
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Remote Sensing (AREA)
- Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Electromagnetism (AREA)
- Radar Systems Or Details Thereof (AREA)
Abstract
Description
- This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/620,802, filed Apr. 5, 2012, which is incorporated by reference.
- 1. Technical Field
- Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to radar imaging systems and, more particularly, to security screening of individuals using ultra wideband radar incorporating integrated wafer scale, right hand circularly polarized (RHCP) and left hand circularly polarized (LHCP) antenna arrays.
- 2. Related Art
- An important security issue for protection of individuals in public places—such as public gatherings, voting lines, entrances of stadiums, government agency offices, religious gathering places, banks, markets, airports, schools, and government facilities, for example—is detection of hidden objects, e.g., objects such as weapons or improvised explosive devices (IED) that may be carried by a person and concealed, for example, underneath or within clothing or in luggage or other hand-carried items. X-ray technology has been used, for example, for airport screening but presents a number of issues, such as cumulative over exposure to radiation for airport and airline personnel and concerns over personal privacy, that have led to a search for other technologies and methods for addressing these security issues. An additional need for readily deployable detectors may arise for places where such detection may not normally be in use or available—such as public gatherings, voting lines, entrances of stadiums, religious gathering places, banks, and markets, for example.
-
FIG. 1 is a perspective view diagram illustrating a scanning system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. -
FIG. 2 is a plan view diagram showing part of the scanning system ofFIG. 1 , in accordance with one embodiment. -
FIGS. 3A and 3B are elevation view diagrams illustrating examples of alternative scanner configurations for a scanning system and examples of imaging, in accordance with one or more embodiments. -
FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a radar transceiver for a scanning system, in accordance with an embodiment. -
FIG. 5 is a system block diagram illustrating a scanning system, in accordance with one or more embodiments. -
FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are system block diagrams illustrating examples of alternative embodiments of a scanning system, in accordance with one or more embodiments. -
FIG. 7 is a state transition diagram for software for a scanning system in accordance with an embodiment. -
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating resolution estimation for a scanning system in accordance with one or more embodiments. -
FIG. 9 is a plan view diagram showing antenna element and feed network layout for a circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna array, in accordance with an embodiment. -
FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C are, respectively, graphs at each of three different frequencies showing co-polarization and cross polarization radiation patterns for left-hand circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna arrays, in accordance with one or more embodiments. -
FIG. 11 is a graph illustrating axial ratio vs. frequency for a circularly polarized, wafer scale antenna array, in accordance with an embodiment. -
FIG. 12A is a perspective view showing a radar system with a calibration target for a scanning system;FIG. 12B is a perspective view showing a variety of test or calibration targets;FIG. 12C is a graph of reflection waveforms using a first test combination of antennas; andFIG. 12D is a graph of reflection waveforms using a second test combination of antennas, in accordance with one or more embodiments. - Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, in which the showings therein are for purposes of illustrating the embodiments and not for purposes of limiting them.
- Broadly speaking, methods and systems are provided in one or more embodiments for detecting concealed weapons and other contraband using ultra wideband (UWB) radar sensing and imaging systems that employ wafer scale (e.g., less than 2.0 inches in side dimension for the antenna array) active array antennas. Such small scale UWB radar sensing and imaging systems can find application to many types of security concerns, such as screening people for concealed weapons (including non-metallic weapons) or explosives at airports and other public buildings. One or more embodiments may provide a walk-through scanning station for screening individuals that can detect, for example, an improvised explosive device (IED) concealed on a person, yet may be considered as being non-invasive of privacy. The scanning station may employ an easy-to-set-up pair of panels that may require no more than 15 minutes of installation time in order to be ready to be used and that may be readily deployed, for example, around the entrances of stadiums, government agency offices, banks, voting lines, religious gathering places, markets, public gatherings, and high impact assets. One or more embodiments may provide an advanced portable imaging technology with automated threat recognition that may be desirable and of use to government agencies and other security providers.
- One or more embodiments may include a system for screening, in which a subject enters a scanning area located between two vertical panels and having, for example, a horizontal footprint of about 3 feet (ft.) by 3 ft. with a vertical height of about 8 ft. The subject may be asked to stand still and then to turn 90 degrees and stand still for about 3 to 5 seconds. The two panels may capture front, back, and side radio frequency (RF) images of the subject employing a V-band RF system. The scanned and captured images from the back, sides, and front of the subject may show any potential threats and their classification on a laptop at a remote location or in the vicinity of the scanning area. The laptop may communicate with the scanning apparatus through a secure connection using, for example, WiFi (e.g., based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards) or 4G (e.g., G3/G4 LTE—Generation 3 or Generation 4 Long Term Evolution), and the laptop or scanning apparatus may also be connected to a remote command and monitoring station.
- In one or more embodiments, for a security screener application of radar scanner imaging, the area within a distance very close to the antenna aperture (e.g., about 2.0 ft. to the person under screening) may be that which is mostly used. The radiation field of the antenna in this area, which may be characterized by a range that is roughly the same as or smaller than the width of the antenna aperture itself, appears not to be very well investigated in the field of UWB radar imaging, possibly due, at least in part, to the difficulty in measuring signals at such close range. In one or more embodiments, subjects in this area close to or within an aperture width of the antennas (which may also be referred to as the “extreme near-field”) may be imaged by the use of several single chip radar transceivers employed in an array. In one or more embodiments, detection and imaging in this extreme near-field may be implemented by direct calibration with the use of reflectors positioned at known locations in the image.
- One or more embodiments may include implementation of a fully integrated, FCC compliant scanner including a transmitter (TX) fully integrated with an array of power amplifiers (PA) and corresponding antenna arrays to form spatial power combining and narrow beam forming; and including a receiver (RX) fully integrated with an array of low noise amplifiers (LNA) and corresponding antenna arrays to form spatial power combining from a reflected signal. One or more embodiments may include implementation of an array of polarized miniature antenna elements that enable system capabilities for analysis of target material and differentiation and classification of target material according to radar signature profiles. One or more embodiments may include implementation of a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based processor to process multiplexing transmitted impulse signals and synchronized received reflections for a target (e.g., person's body) subject to the scan. One or more embodiments may provide “stick diagram” presentation coupled with audio alarms or other abstraction of visual screen information from scanned data to circumvent privacy issues and concerns. One or more embodiments may provide significant improvement in size-weight-and-power (SWAP)—e.g., reductions in volume of space occupied by the scanning apparatus; transportation weight of the apparatus; and electrical power consumption—compared to existing x-ray scanners used in airports, for example. One or more embodiments may provide significant improvement in set up time at required at any location of deployment. One or more embodiments may provide scalability to enhance detection resolution by allowing migration to implementations using W-band technology from implementations using, for example, X-band or V-band technology.
- One or more embodiments may include implementation of an active antenna array (e.g., antenna-amplifier array) including a fully integrated feed network with associated power amplifiers that transmit (or low noise amplifiers to receive) a radar signal in X-band (e.g., about 8-12 giga-Hertz (GHz)), V-band (e.g., about 40-75 giga-Hertz (GHz)), E-band (e.g., including two bands of about 71-76 and 81-86 GHz), W-band (e.g., about 75-110 GHz), or terahertz (e.g., about 300-3000 GHz) frequency bands. One or more embodiments may employ 5 GHz ultra wideband (UWB) radar operating at 1-6 GHz, for example, or 3-6 GHz. One or more embodiments may include integrated ultra wideband, wafer scale, right hand circularly polarized (RHCP) or left hand circularly polarized (LHCP) antenna elements, using spiral plate antenna elements, for beam forming and beam steering. One or more embodiments may include ultra wideband, wafer scale, RHCP and LHCP antenna arrays in which side lobes are at least 20 decibels (dB) suppressed. One or more embodiments may include ultra wideband, wafer scale, RHCP and LHCP antenna arrays in which cross polarization is at least 20 dB suppressed.
- One or more embodiments provide the capability to modify the cross polarization and array gain, and tune the antenna array for optimum insertion loss by controlling spiral design variables. One or more embodiments provide the capability to modify the feed network to tune the antenna array for optimum insertion loss. One or more embodiments may include integration of the wafer scale RHCP layer antenna array with another layer of LHCP array on top (or bottom). In one or more embodiments, integrated RHCP and LHCP layers may operate as a wafer scale antenna module that can transmit through the LHCP (or RHCP) array and receive waves in the LHCP array as well as the RHCP array.
-
FIG. 1 illustrates ascanning system 100, showing a subject 102 (e.g., an individual person) positioned between afirst panel 104 and asecond panel 106. Subject 102 may, for example, walk betweenfirst panel 104 andsecond panel 106, and may stop for a brief period of time (e.g., from a few seconds to a minute or two) between the panels. Subject 102 also may turn to face various directions while remaining betweenfirst panel 104 andsecond panel 106. As indicated inFIG. 1 , the panels may occupy a “footprint” area approximately 5 ft. by 5 ft. square, with a footprint for theentire system 100 that may be approximately 10 ft. by 10 ft. square, with a space of about 4 ft. wide betweenfirst panel 104 andsecond panel 106, and with the height of each panel being about 7 to 8 ft. The weight ofpanels - The
panels panels radar transceiver array 110 and to providemechanical apparatus 112—such as rails, belt drive, and stepper motor—for moving thearray 110 up and down the entire height (or any portion) ofpanel 104 orpanel 106. In an alternative embodiment,radar transceiver array 110 may also be a rectangular array of radar transceivers disposed so as to occupy the entire surface ofpanel 104 orpanel 106 so that no movement ofradar transceiver array 110 is needed for scanning subject 102.Radar transceiver array 110 may be provided on bothpanels radar transceiver array 110 may be a UWB radar transceiver operating at a center frequency, for example, of about 60 GHz. For each panel, e.g.,panel 104 orpanel 106, only one of the radar transceivers ofradar transceiver array 110 may be used as a transmitter and all of the radar transceivers ofradar transceiver array 110 may be used as receivers. -
System 100 may also provide adisplay 120, in communication withradar transceiver array 110, for displaying a processedradar image 122 ofsubject 102.Display 120 may be attached to or supported in proximity to one of thepanels radar transceiver array 110 via, for example, a secure, wireless connection, as described above. In order to address privacy issues and concerns,image 122 may be provided bydisplay 120 as an abstract figure (e.g., outline or line drawing type of image of subject 102 as opposed to a photographic type image of subject 102). -
FIG. 2 shows a top view ofpanels scanning system 100, with a subject 102 standing between thepanels FIG. 2 , width ofradar transceiver arrays 110 may be about 1.2 meters (m) and subject 102 may be no more than about 0.4 m from radar transceivers (e.g., from an antenna element of a radar transceiver) ofradar transceiver array 110. Thus, in the example illustrated, the aperture ofradar transceiver array 110 may be about 1.2 m and subject 102 may be well within an aperture distance (0.4 m<1.2 m) ofradar transceiver array 110, e.g., subject 102 is within a range smaller than the width of the aperture itself, or in what is referred to above as “extreme near-field” ofradar transceiver array 110. -
FIGS. 3A and 3B are side views illustrating examples of alternative configurations forradar transceiver array 110 for either ofpanel 104 orpanel 106.FIG. 3A illustrates an example of a rectangularradar transceiver array 110 having 64 horizontal rows of radar transceivers with 24 radar transceivers in each row. In one embodiment, an implementation with a rectangularradar transceiver array 110 as shown inFIG. 3A may provide a fully electronic scanning system using an array of 24×64 (1,536) transceivers 1000 (e.g., transceiver with polarized antenna array pairs). The rectangularradar transceiver array 110 may be arranged as shown to cover a scanning area defined bypanels panels panels -
FIG. 3B illustrates another example of aradar transceiver array 110 having a single horizontal row of radar transceivers with 24 radar transceivers in the single row to formradar transceiver array 110 as a linear array. The linear array may be moved (e.g., usingmechanical apparatus 112 which may include a track or rails, belt drive, and stepper motor) up and down, as indicated byarrows 113, so that the linear array can be used, for example, to scan the entire scanning area covered by rectangularradar transceiver array 110 shown inFIG. 3A , e.g., the entire scanning area defined bypanels -
FIG. 4 illustrates aradar transceiver 1000 that may be included in an array of radar transceivers, e.g.,radar transceiver array 110, for ascanning system 100.Radar transceiver 1000 may employ an ultra-wideband, or UWB, V-band RF module 1010, which interfaces to a primary microwave, UWB, GHz RF, and digital signal processor (DSP)processing unit 1020.Primary processing unit 1020 may provide a 5 GHz UWB scanner system. The 5 GHz (bandwidth) scanner system ofprimary processing unit 1020 may operate at 3 to 6 GHz. Another, alternative implementation of the scanner system ofprimary processing unit 1020 may operate at 1 to 6 GHz. - The microwave UWB RF sensor
primary processing unit 1020 may be configured to process reflected signals from an object. On the other hand, the millimeter-wave, V-band RF module 1010 may provide the capability for acompact system 100 with miniaturizedpolarized antenna arrays 1030 that can provide such capabilities as material analysis using radar signature profiles. The V-band scanner, e.g., V-band RF module 1010, may operate at 57 to 64 GHz using up (transmit) and down (receive) conversion with the GHz RF module, e.g.,primary processing unit 1020. - V-
band RF module 1010 may include an up-converter 1012 and a down-converter 1014, as shown, with alocal oscillator 1016, for converting between the operating frequencies of UWB RF sensorprimary processing unit 1020 and the operating frequency desired to be used atantenna arrays 1030. Thus, V-band is used only as an example for illustration purposes. V-band RF module 1010 may provide up and down conversion for operation at other frequencies, e.g., X-band, V-band, E-band, W-band, or terahertz frequency bands. -
Primary processing unit 1020 may include alocal oscillator 1023 that provides timing signals toimpulse train module 1024 andtiming recovery module 1025.Primary processing unit 1020 may include acorrelator 1026 and a signal processor 1028 (e.g., DSP). As shown inFIG. 4 ,radar transceiver 1000 may include anEthernet interface 1022 in communication withsignal processor 1028 so that theprimary processing unit 1020 of eachradar transceiver 1000 ofradar transceiver array 110 can communicate its data for further processing. -
Radar transceiver 1000 may transmit narrow radio frequency (RE) pulses at a certain pulse repetition frequency (PRF). For example,transceiver 1000 may emit RE radiation in the form of rapid wideband (narrow width) radar pulses at a chosen pulse repetition frequency (PRF) in the 1-100 MHz band. The pulses can penetrate various kinds of material—such as clothing, vinyl, and leather, that could be used for concealing contraband—with varying attenuation constant.Transceiver 1000 may, for example, transmit Gaussian pulses as short as 100 pico-seconds wide with center frequency in the 1-10 GHz band.Transceiver 1000 may receive radar signals and perform the required signal processing on a reflected pulse response to construct a digitized representation of the subject 102 (including, e.g., a concealed TED).Primary processing unit 1020 may extract and digitally process received amplitude and delay information. -
Antenna array 1030 may include a transmitarray 1031 and a receivearray 1033. Transmitantenna array 1031 may be RHCP, as shown, or LHCP. Receiveantenna array 1033 may be LHCP, as shown, or may be RHCP. Transmitantenna array 1031 and receiveantenna array 1033 may have opposite polarizations, as shown, or may have the same polarization. Different combinations of polarization of the transmitter and receiver modules in theradar transceiver array 110 configuration may be used to optimize performance of theradar scanner system 100 for various applications. If the transmit signal in radar is circularly polarized, after a single metallic reflection the polarization may mirror, from left to right and vice versa. This mirroring could be an efficient way of detecting multiple reflections (e.g., from complex shapes) and single reflections (e.g., from simpler flat shapes) from objects under interrogation. -
Radar transceiver 1000 may employ a wafer scale antenna and wafer scale beam forming as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,312,763, issued Dec. 25, 2007, to Mohamadi and U.S. Pat. No. 7,548,205, issued Jun. 16, 2009, to Mohamadi and virtual beam forming as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,237,604, issued Aug. 7, 2012, to Mohamadi et al., all of which are incorporated by reference. Wafer scale antenna modules (WSAM) are disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 7,884,757, issued Feb. 8, 2011, to Mohamadi et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,830,989, issued Nov. 9, 2010 to Mohamadi, both of which are incorporated by reference. Depending on a particular application of a system, such as walk-through security screening, mechanical movement and steering of the beam may also be employed as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,697,958, issued Apr. 13, 2010 to Mohamadi, which is also incorporated by reference. -
FIG. 5 illustrates ascanning system 100, in accordance with one or more embodiments.Scanning system 100 may include a number, N, of radar transceivers, such asradar transceiver 1000 illustrated inFIG. 4 . N may be any number. For example, N may be 24×64=1536radar transceivers 1000 for the embodiment described inFIG. 3A , or N may be 24 for the embodiment described inFIG. 3B .System 100 may use an array oftransceivers 1000 in which each transceiver is a single chip radar transceiver realized in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process that may reduce the cost, weight, and energy consumption ofsystem 100 compared to multi-chip radar transceiver implementations, may provide a set of completelyisolated transceivers 1000 forsystem 100, may provide modularity of the system, and may facilitate extension of its application to person-borne IEDs (PBIED) at extended ranges. - In one embodiment, the
system 100 may employ a linear array including one or more sets of eight single chip radar transceivers mounted on a single FR4 substrate printed circuit board. In one embodiment, three of the eight-single chip radar transceiver boards may be integrated to implement a 24-channels linear array for rapid millimeter-wave scan of the subject 102. One of the transceivers may be used as a transmitter and all of the eight or 24 transceivers may be used as receivers. The transmitted pulse may be, for example, a first order Gaussian pulse with a center frequency of 4.35 GHz and a bandwidth greater than 2.5 GHz. The receivers may use a sampling on a continuous time binary value to achieve a sampling rate of 40 giga-samples per second (GS/s). - Each
transceiver 1000 may be connected via anEthernet interface 1022 with aprocessor 130 that may, for example, perform processing that combines data from alltransceivers 1000—whether in a rectangular array or a linear array that is moved to scan the scanning area defined bypanels image 122, on adisplay 120.System 100 may also include asupervisor monitoring system 125 that may communicate withprocessor 130 via anetwork 126, as shown, which may include a private secure network, for example, or the Internet. - In
system 100, an array of independent transceivers 1000 (using UWB radar ofprimary processing unit 1020 as intermediate frequency (IF) and up- and down-converters ofRF module 1010 in RF) may be used for extreme near-field (as described above) imaging. InFIG. 5 , an arrangement with an integrated IF (radar) board for eachtransceiver 1000 may operate at 1-10 GHz bandwidth. Results from a mathematical model ofsystem 100 incorporating the inter-sample delay variations show that process variations are a strong influence on image degradation and a factor that is not easily rectified. In one or more embodiments, the problem of inter-sample delay variations may be addressed by direct calibration of thesystem 100 using one or more reflectors 103 (also referred to as a calibration target) positioned at known locations in the image. -
FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C illustrate examples of alternative embodiments of ascanning system 100. InFIG. 6A , an array of 24transceivers 1000 may be implemented by multiplexing from a singleprimary processing unit 1020. The linear array of transceivers (e.g., transceiver cells, each with polarized pair—e.g. one RHCP, one LHCP—of antenna arrays of 16×16 antenna elements) and one multiplexor-de-multiplexor (mux-demux)processor 132 may be deployed at the expense of mechanical scan time of 3-5 seconds. Each scan may be performed from top to bottom, or bottom to top.FIG. 6A shows a modified circuit ofFIG. 4 to enable 24 pair of polarized arrays (e.g., arranged as a linear array) to scan the subject 102 in a horizontal direction, while a step motor vertically increments thearray 64 times for the entire height (e.g., 8 ft.) of thesystem 100. To further reduce cost, rate of interrogation by the scanner (transmit pulses and receiver waveforms) may be modified such that the same number of impulses gets transmitted and received synchronously to all 24 pairs of polarized arrays. - In
FIG. 6B , an array of 24transceivers 1000 may be implemented by the use of double pole switches 135 with high isolation that may be included in anIF switch interface 134 to time the routing of the 3-6 GHz TX/RX IF signal from the radar (e.g., primary processing unit 1020) to 24 V-band TX/RX front ends (e.g., V-band RF modules 1010).FIG. 6B may show a low risk, low cost (e.g., only one radar core), and low power consumption implementation at the expense of 24 times longer scan time than that for 24independent transceivers 1000. Double pole switches 135 may be implemented, for example, on a chip in 130 nanometer (nm) 8HP (8HP is a proprietary name of IBM, Inc.) silicon germanium (SiGe) process that may be used to expand to a 1:24 matrix switch (e.g., IF switch interface 134). Because the routing may be done in IF (3-6 GHz), good isolation between channels (e.g., 24 channels) can be achieved (e.g., 40 dB isolation). - In
FIG. 6C , an array of 24transceivers 1000 may be implemented by the use of double pole switches 137 with high isolation may be included in anRF switch interface 136 to time the routing of the 3-6 GHz TX/RX signal from the radar (e.g., primary processing unit 1020) to its single V-band TX/RX (e.g., V-band RF module 1010) and then to all 24 array pairs (e.g., polarized antenna arrays 1030).FIG. 6C may show a moderate risk, low cost (e.g. only one radar core) implementation at the expense of 24 times longer scan time. The implementation ofFIG. 6C may exhibit a lower power consumption and lower cost than even the implementation shown inFIG. 6B , and may provide ascanner system 100 with a smaller footprint. Because the routing may be done in RF (57-64 GHz), good isolation—although possibly not as good as in the case of IF isolation—between channels can be achieved (e.g., about 20-30 dB isolation). -
FIG. 7 is a state transition diagram for software for ascanning system 100 in accordance with an embodiment. Software illustrated byFIG. 7 may include, for example, firmware and drivers operable with 5 GHz and 60 GHz RF imaging systems that can be used for detection inscanner system 100 of an TED or weapon carried by an individual (e.g., subject 102). The software may also be used for biorhythmic monitoring, e.g., biorhythmic pattern such as heartbeat and respiration, overlay with a composite video image, and detected RF image of suspected TED or weapon on an individual. - Software operating on a
processor 130, for example, may provide various modes of functioning forscanning system 100. For example, states 1101 through 1105 may be entered when the system is in a scan mode, whereasstates 1106 through 1111 may be entered when the system is in a motion mode. Toggling between the two modes may be provided, for example, bystate transition 1120 which may be traversed in either direction betweenstate 1102 and state 11006.States FIG. 7 , may provide for a variety of methods of functioning, for example, ofradar scanning system 100. -
FIG. 8 illustrates resolution estimation for aradar scanning system 100 in which the range to the subject being scanned may be about the same or less than an aperture width of the radar scanner, in accordance with one or more embodiments. - Using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) techniques, lateral resolutions (e.g., horizontal resolutions for the
radar transceiver array 110, shown inFIG. 1, 3A , or 3B, and having a width (Dy) of 1.2 m as shown inFIG. 2 ) may be estimated according toFIG. 8 , using the following relationships: φd=arcsin(λ/Dy) and B=R tan(φd). - For 60 GHz, for example, the wavelength λ60=5 millimeters (mm), Dy=1.2 m (see, e.g.,
FIG. 2 ), angle φd=0.24°, and R=0.4 m (seeFIG. 2 ) so solving the two relationships gives B=1.7 mm; thus, BSAR=B/2=0.85 mm. For a 5 GHz example, the wavelength λ5=60 mm, Dy=1.2 m (seeFIG. 2 ), angle φd=2.9°, and R=0.4 m (seeFIG. 2 ) so solving the two relationships gives B=20 mm; thus, BSAR=B/2=10 mm. Thus, radar scanning system can achieve less than 2 mm horizontal resolution at 60 GHz and 20 mm horizontal resolution at 5 GHz. The vertical resolution will be roughly half of the horizontal resolution as the vertical aperture—8 ft. or 2.4 m—is roughly twice the 2.1 m horizontal aperture. These fine resolutions may enablescanning system 100 to detect metal and non-metal structures reliably on the human body. - The distance very close to the antenna aperture (e.g., within about 2 ft. or 0.6 m to the person under screening) may be that which is used the most by
scanning system 100. The electric field at these distances, which may be characterized by a range smaller than the width of the aperture itself, generally presents some difficulty in measuring signals at such close range. This extreme near-field area may be imaged by the use of several singlechip radar transceivers 1000 employed in anarray 110. Some factors in determining the quality of a radar image are the down-range and cross-range resolutions, and the dynamic range. - The down-range resolution, Δr, may be determined by the signal, or pulse, bandwidth, Δf, as follows:
-
- where c is the speed of light, τ is the pulse duration in seconds.
- The cross-range resolution, Δx, may be determined by the antenna spatial length or aperture width, D, the center frequency, f (or equivalent wavelength λ determined by fλ=c), and the range to the target, r, as follows:
-
- where k is a constant close to 1.0 that depends on the aperture and the measure of resolution. The cross-range resolution formula may be based on analysis for the narrow band, far-field case. Measurements for the wide-band, near-field case, however, may need to be compared to simulations of the
system 100. - Another parameter that may be used for assessing image quality is the dynamic range of the image. Dynamic range in a radar image may be defined as the ratio of the highest peak to the noise floor and may be governed by the number of transmitting and receiving antennas and the signal to noise ratio (SNR). One commonly used method for measuring the dynamic range is the peak side lobe ratio (PSLR) that may compare the peak of the main lobe to the maximum value of the side lobes. The PSLR may be used for determining or comparing the dynamic range.
-
FIG. 9 illustrates an antenna element and feed network layout for a circularly polarized, waferscale antenna array 300, which may be used, for example, to implementantenna arrays 1030.FIG. 9 shows an example configuration of 16-by-16 circularly polarizedantenna array 300, which may also be referred to as a “cell”. The total size of the 16-by-16 circularly polarizedantenna array 300 may be about 42.5 mm-by-42.5 mm (about 1.7 inches), or even less. Scaling the 3-6 GHz UWB frequency to 57-64 GHz may allowantenna array 300 to be scaled at 100 times smaller footprint (e.g., linear dimension scaled at 1/10), while keeping the sensitivity ofantenna array 300 intact. -
FIG. 9 also shows antenna element and feed network layout for the 16-by-16antenna element array 300, in accordance with an embodiment. Waferscale antenna array 300 may be used, for example, to identify the phase of an object, in case that the array is used as part of a radar transmitter and receiver, e.g.,radar transceiver 1000. In a fully integrated wafer-scale system, thearray 300 may be fed from the center as seen inFIG. 9 , showing acentral array feed 302. Waferscale antenna array 300 may include an H-tree feed network 304, vias 306,ground plane shield 308, and UWBspiral antenna plates 310 as a 16-by-16 wafer-scale LHCP array. -
FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C present, respectively, graphs at each of three different frequencies showing co-polarization and cross polarization radiation patterns for a left-hand circularly polarized, waferscale antenna array 300, in accordance with one or more embodiments. Examples of measured radiation patterns of the 16-by-16 circularly polarizedantenna array 300 are shown inFIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C for LHCP-RHCP patterns appear similar—at frequencies of 57, 60, and 64 GHz, respectively. It may be seen from the graphs that the cross-polar component is lower than 10 dB over the design frequency range 57-64 GHz. The directive gain of the array in one embodiment may be higher than 28 dBi. -
FIG. 11 presents a graph illustrating axial ratio vs. frequency for a circularly polarized, waferscale antenna array 300, in accordance with an embodiment. The axial ratio (AR) of the 16-by-16 circularly polarized, waferscale antenna array 300 is plotted as a function of frequency inFIG. 11 . As seen inFIG. 11 , it may be found that the AR bandwidth for the 16-by-16 circularly polarizedantenna array 300 may be about 11%, about 4 percent wider than that (7%) for an isolated single element antenna. This AR bandwidth can cover the required frequency range from 57 to 64 GHz. The bandwidth enhancement may be due to the coupling between array elements, which may lead to an increase in on-axis AR bandwidth for scanning element patterns. -
FIG. 12A is a perspective view showing one ormore radar transceivers 1000 with a calibration target, or reflector, 103 for ascanning system 100. Different combinations of transmit and receive antenna polarizations may calibrated using thereflector 103. For example, both transmit and receive antennas may have the same polarization—e.g., either LHCP/LHCP or RHCP/RHCP—or the transmit and receive antennas may have opposite polarizations—e.g., either RHCP/LHCP or LHCP/RHCP, respectively. -
FIG. 12B is a perspective view showing a variety of reflectors or calibration targets 103. Shown inFIG. 12B are different metallic shapes that may be used to calibrate the capabilities of various RHCP vs. LHCP combinations. In all of the cases, same polarization (e.g., RHCP/RHCP) results have been compared with differing polarization (e.g., RHCP/LHCP) results. Of note is that even though the cylinder surface for the reflector labeled Cylinder-1 is not flat, the reflections off of this cylinder are strong and comparable to L-shape objects' reflections (see, e.g.,FIG. 12D ), which are flat. Such results may be explained by the sharp and narrow beam pattern of the 16-by-16 circularly polarizedantenna array 300, for which the illuminated surface of the cylinder is still highly reflective due to the narrow beam. -
FIG. 12C is a graph of reflection waveforms using a first test combination of antennas in which both transmit and receive antennas have the same polarization, for example, either LHCP/LHCP or RHCP/RHCP.FIG. 12D is a graph of reflection waveforms using a second test combination of antennas in which the transmit and receive antennas have opposite polarizations, for example, either RHCP/LHCP or LHCP/RHCP. As can be seen from comparingFIG. 12C andFIG. 12D , there is a clear enhanced pattern of detecting an object (e.g., the calibration target) with differing polarizations for transmit and receive antennas. - Embodiments described herein illustrate but do not limit the disclosure. It should also be understood that numerous modifications and variations are possible in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of the disclosure is best defined only by the following claims.
Claims (20)
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US13/794,449 US9316732B1 (en) | 2012-04-05 | 2013-03-11 | Standoff screening apparatus for detection of concealed weapons |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US201261620802P | 2012-04-05 | 2012-04-05 | |
US13/794,449 US9316732B1 (en) | 2012-04-05 | 2013-03-11 | Standoff screening apparatus for detection of concealed weapons |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US9316732B1 US9316732B1 (en) | 2016-04-19 |
US20160116581A1 true US20160116581A1 (en) | 2016-04-28 |
Family
ID=55699981
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US13/794,449 Expired - Fee Related US9316732B1 (en) | 2012-04-05 | 2013-03-11 | Standoff screening apparatus for detection of concealed weapons |
Country Status (1)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US9316732B1 (en) |
Cited By (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20150253422A1 (en) * | 2014-03-07 | 2015-09-10 | Rapiscan Systems, Inc. | Ultra Wide Band Detectors |
US20170115378A1 (en) * | 2015-10-22 | 2017-04-27 | Uniquesec Ab | System for generating virtual radar signatures |
WO2020098018A1 (en) * | 2018-11-16 | 2020-05-22 | 上海无线电设备研究所 | Data acquisition system of active millimeter-wave imaging radar and acquisition method therefor |
US11119241B2 (en) * | 2016-06-16 | 2021-09-14 | Well Id As | Downhole calliper tool |
US11280898B2 (en) | 2014-03-07 | 2022-03-22 | Rapiscan Systems, Inc. | Radar-based baggage and parcel inspection systems |
WO2022064047A3 (en) * | 2020-09-28 | 2022-05-27 | Scarabee Systems & Technology B.V. | Screening device and method for screening a person |
WO2022150268A1 (en) * | 2021-01-06 | 2022-07-14 | Lassen Peak, Inc. | Systems and methods for noninvasive detection of impermissible objects |
WO2023027441A1 (en) * | 2021-08-27 | 2023-03-02 | 주식회사 아모센스 | Antenna module for positioning |
US11982734B2 (en) | 2021-01-06 | 2024-05-14 | Lassen Peak, Inc. | Systems and methods for multi-unit collaboration for noninvasive detection of concealed impermissible objects |
Families Citing this family (19)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US9689964B2 (en) * | 2013-04-23 | 2017-06-27 | The Curators Of The University Of Missouri | Electronic receiver device detection system and method |
US9369259B2 (en) | 2014-02-13 | 2016-06-14 | Farrokh Mohamadi | W-band combiner-splitter fabricated using 3-D printing |
US9715010B2 (en) * | 2014-11-28 | 2017-07-25 | Htc Corporation | Apparatus and method for detection |
CN104796204B (en) * | 2015-03-16 | 2017-09-12 | 深圳大学 | A kind of metal based on wireless network carries detection method |
CN106291732B (en) * | 2016-08-18 | 2018-03-02 | 华讯方舟科技有限公司 | Comprehensive safe examination system based on mm-wave imaging |
US10816658B2 (en) | 2016-09-07 | 2020-10-27 | OmniPreSense Corporation | Radar enabled weapon detection system |
US10585185B2 (en) | 2017-02-03 | 2020-03-10 | Rohde & Schwarz Gmbh & Co. Kg | Security scanning system with walk-through-gate |
CN108051806A (en) * | 2017-12-04 | 2018-05-18 | 上海无线电设备研究所 | A kind of mm-wave imaging safety check radar system based on general purpose radar front-end chip |
CN210155349U (en) * | 2018-03-09 | 2020-03-17 | 同方威视技术股份有限公司 | Extensible millimeter wave security inspection system and scanning unit |
CN112384823A (en) * | 2018-03-23 | 2021-02-19 | 艾克索纳科技公司 | System and method for detecting target patterns using Ultra Wideband (UWB) radar |
CN109375220A (en) * | 2018-03-30 | 2019-02-22 | 清华大学 | Safety check system and its data processing method |
IL280373B1 (en) * | 2018-07-24 | 2024-05-01 | Smiths Interconnect Inc | Standoff detection system |
US11366197B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2022-06-21 | Movano Inc. | Methods for operating stepped frequency radar systems with digital demultiplexing |
US11415669B2 (en) * | 2019-01-11 | 2022-08-16 | Nec Corporation | Walk-through gate with signal separation |
US11055837B2 (en) * | 2019-03-29 | 2021-07-06 | Avigilon Corporation | Human profile and anomaly detection |
WO2020214435A2 (en) * | 2019-04-03 | 2020-10-22 | Xonar Technology Inc. | Noise reduction in an ultra-wideband (uwb) radar |
CN111208509B (en) * | 2020-01-15 | 2020-12-29 | 中国人民解放军国防科技大学 | Ultra-wideband radar human body target posture visualization enhancing method |
US11378680B2 (en) * | 2020-02-19 | 2022-07-05 | Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated | Millimeter-wave radar imaging device and method |
US20210405179A1 (en) * | 2020-06-25 | 2021-12-30 | Lassen Peak, Inc. | Systems and Methods for Noninvasive Detection of Impermissible Objects |
Family Cites Families (32)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4931808A (en) * | 1989-01-10 | 1990-06-05 | Ball Corporation | Embedded surface wave antenna |
US5859609A (en) * | 1991-08-30 | 1999-01-12 | Battelle Memorial Institute | Real-time wideband cylindrical holographic surveillance system |
GB9313109D0 (en) * | 1993-06-25 | 1994-09-21 | Secr Defence | Radiation sensor |
US6593876B2 (en) * | 2000-08-11 | 2003-07-15 | The Seti League Inc. | Adaptive microwave antenna array |
US7365672B2 (en) * | 2001-03-16 | 2008-04-29 | Battelle Memorial Institute | Detection of a concealed object |
US6963307B2 (en) | 2002-11-19 | 2005-11-08 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Inductively-coupled antenna array |
US7126542B2 (en) | 2002-11-19 | 2006-10-24 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Integrated antenna module with micro-waveguide |
US6870503B2 (en) | 2002-11-19 | 2005-03-22 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Beam-forming antenna system |
US7358848B2 (en) | 2002-11-19 | 2008-04-15 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Wireless remote sensor |
US6885344B2 (en) | 2002-11-19 | 2005-04-26 | Farrokh Mohamadi | High-frequency antenna array |
US7126541B2 (en) | 2002-11-19 | 2006-10-24 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Beam forming phased array system in a transparent substrate |
US6982670B2 (en) | 2003-06-04 | 2006-01-03 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Phase management for beam-forming applications |
US7610064B2 (en) | 2003-09-16 | 2009-10-27 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Direct downlink RF module |
US7253766B2 (en) * | 2004-09-24 | 2007-08-07 | Battelle Memorial Institute | Three-dimensional surface/contour processing based on electromagnetic radiation interrogation |
US7321339B2 (en) | 2005-01-14 | 2008-01-22 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Phase shifters for beamforming applications |
US7295146B2 (en) * | 2005-03-24 | 2007-11-13 | Battelle Memorial Institute | Holographic arrays for multi-path imaging artifact reduction |
US7034746B1 (en) * | 2005-03-24 | 2006-04-25 | Bettelle Memorial Institute | Holographic arrays for threat detection and human feature removal |
US7542005B2 (en) | 2005-05-31 | 2009-06-02 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Tunable integrated antenna |
US7830989B2 (en) | 2005-05-31 | 2010-11-09 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Ultra wideband impulse radar |
GB0617586D0 (en) * | 2006-09-07 | 2006-10-18 | Mbda Uk Ltd | Improvements in or relating to scanners |
US7884776B2 (en) | 2006-09-28 | 2011-02-08 | Farrokh Mohamadi | High power integrated circuit beamforming array |
FR2914750B1 (en) * | 2007-04-03 | 2009-07-03 | Commissariat Energie Atomique | EQUIVALENT RADAR SURFACE ESTIMATING METHOD |
US7884757B2 (en) | 2007-10-18 | 2011-02-08 | Tialinx, Inc. | Scanning ultra wideband impulse radar |
DE102007055217B4 (en) * | 2007-11-19 | 2013-01-17 | Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. | Method and device for the spatially resolved detection and reconstruction of objects by means of microwaves |
US7986260B2 (en) * | 2009-02-18 | 2011-07-26 | Battelle Memorial Institute | Circularly polarized antennas for active holographic imaging through barriers |
US8237604B2 (en) | 2009-03-06 | 2012-08-07 | Tialinx, Inc. | Virtual beam forming in ultra wideband systems |
US8368586B2 (en) * | 2009-03-26 | 2013-02-05 | Tialinx, Inc. | Person-borne improvised explosive device detection |
US8154339B2 (en) | 2009-09-23 | 2012-04-10 | Tialinx, Inc. | V-band high-power transmitter with integrated power combiner |
US8766743B2 (en) | 2010-07-02 | 2014-07-01 | Tialinx, Inc. | Wafer scale spatial power combiner |
WO2013112223A2 (en) * | 2011-11-09 | 2013-08-01 | Marquette Trishaun | Detection of an asymmetric object |
US9166290B2 (en) * | 2011-12-21 | 2015-10-20 | Sony Corporation | Dual-polarized optically controlled microwave antenna |
US9244163B2 (en) * | 2012-05-17 | 2016-01-26 | Farrokh Mohamadi | Integrated ultra wideband, wafer scale, RHCP-LHCP arrays |
-
2013
- 2013-03-11 US US13/794,449 patent/US9316732B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
Cited By (15)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US11280898B2 (en) | 2014-03-07 | 2022-03-22 | Rapiscan Systems, Inc. | Radar-based baggage and parcel inspection systems |
US9891314B2 (en) * | 2014-03-07 | 2018-02-13 | Rapiscan Systems, Inc. | Ultra wide band detectors |
US20190004170A1 (en) * | 2014-03-07 | 2019-01-03 | Rapiscan Systems, Inc. | Ultra Wide Band Detectors |
US20150253422A1 (en) * | 2014-03-07 | 2015-09-10 | Rapiscan Systems, Inc. | Ultra Wide Band Detectors |
US20170115378A1 (en) * | 2015-10-22 | 2017-04-27 | Uniquesec Ab | System for generating virtual radar signatures |
US10520586B2 (en) | 2015-10-22 | 2019-12-31 | Uniquesec Ab | System for generating virtual radar signatures |
US10578715B2 (en) * | 2015-10-22 | 2020-03-03 | Uniquesec Ab | System for generating virtual radar signatures |
US11119241B2 (en) * | 2016-06-16 | 2021-09-14 | Well Id As | Downhole calliper tool |
WO2020098018A1 (en) * | 2018-11-16 | 2020-05-22 | 上海无线电设备研究所 | Data acquisition system of active millimeter-wave imaging radar and acquisition method therefor |
WO2022064047A3 (en) * | 2020-09-28 | 2022-05-27 | Scarabee Systems & Technology B.V. | Screening device and method for screening a person |
NL2026564B1 (en) * | 2020-09-28 | 2022-05-30 | Scarabee Systems & Tech B V | screening device for screening a person |
WO2022150268A1 (en) * | 2021-01-06 | 2022-07-14 | Lassen Peak, Inc. | Systems and methods for noninvasive detection of impermissible objects |
US11982734B2 (en) | 2021-01-06 | 2024-05-14 | Lassen Peak, Inc. | Systems and methods for multi-unit collaboration for noninvasive detection of concealed impermissible objects |
US12000924B2 (en) | 2021-01-06 | 2024-06-04 | Lassen Peak, Inc. | Systems and methods for noninvasive detection of impermissible objects |
WO2023027441A1 (en) * | 2021-08-27 | 2023-03-02 | 주식회사 아모센스 | Antenna module for positioning |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
US9316732B1 (en) | 2016-04-19 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US9316732B1 (en) | Standoff screening apparatus for detection of concealed weapons | |
US20150285907A1 (en) | Terahertz screening apparatus for detection of concealed weapons | |
US7804442B2 (en) | Millimeter wave (MMW) screening portal systems, devices and methods | |
JP5358053B2 (en) | Security inspection system and method, microwave imaging system and method | |
CN110308443B (en) | Real-beam electrical scanning rapid imaging human body security inspection method and security inspection system | |
Adamiuk et al. | UWB antennas for communication systems | |
US6831590B1 (en) | Concealed object detection | |
US9244163B2 (en) | Integrated ultra wideband, wafer scale, RHCP-LHCP arrays | |
US9459345B2 (en) | Passive detection of unauthorized electronic devices using wafer scale beam forming | |
US9372256B2 (en) | Wafer scale sensor ultra-wideband array for tissue diagnosis | |
Elboushi et al. | MMW sensor for hidden targets detection and warning based on reflection/scattering approach | |
Yang et al. | Design of a microstrip leaky-wave antenna for two-dimensional bearing tracking | |
Kapilevich et al. | Non-imaging microwave and millimetre-wave sensors for concealed object detection | |
Chua et al. | The maiden flight of Hinotori-C: The first C band full polarimetric circularly polarized synthetic aperture radar in the world | |
Ahmed | Advanced fully-electronic personnel security screening technology | |
Malanowski et al. | Passive radar based on LOFAR radio telescope for air and space target detection | |
CN109459792A (en) | Scene monitoring formula millimeter wave scanning imaging system and safety detection method | |
Hu et al. | A THz imaging system using sparse antenna array for security screening | |
Yang et al. | Range-azimuth tracking of humans using a microstrip leaky wave antenna | |
Longstaff et al. | MIMO radar developments at Teledyne Australia | |
Dill et al. | Study of passive MMW personnel imaging with respect to suspicious and common concealed objects for security applications | |
Kumar et al. | A compact quasi-Yagi antenna for FMCW radar-on-chip-based through-wall imaging | |
Sacco et al. | A SISO FMCW radar based on inherently frequency scanning antennas for 2-D indoor tracking of multiple subjects | |
Blackhurst | Development of techniques and technology for full polarimetric radar applied to concealed weapons detection | |
Shaikh et al. | High-gain rectangular-fins shaped balanced antipodal vivaldi antenna array extended by dielectric for wide-band imaging application |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
STCF | Information on status: patent grant |
Free format text: PATENTED CASE |
|
CC | Certificate of correction | ||
MAFP | Maintenance fee payment |
Free format text: PAYMENT OF MAINTENANCE FEE, 4TH YR, SMALL ENTITY (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: M2551); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: SMALL ENTITY Year of fee payment: 4 |
|
FEPP | Fee payment procedure |
Free format text: MAINTENANCE FEE REMINDER MAILED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: REM.); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: SMALL ENTITY |
|
LAPS | Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees |
Free format text: PATENT EXPIRED FOR FAILURE TO PAY MAINTENANCE FEES (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: EXP.); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: SMALL ENTITY |
|
STCH | Information on status: patent discontinuation |
Free format text: PATENT EXPIRED DUE TO NONPAYMENT OF MAINTENANCE FEES UNDER 37 CFR 1.362 |
|
FP | Lapsed due to failure to pay maintenance fee |
Effective date: 20240419 |