Portable concealed weapon detection using millimeter wave FMCW radar imaging

摘要

Unobtrusive detection of concealed weapons on persons or in abandoned bags woulod provide law enforcement a powerful tool to focus resources and increase traffic throughput in high-risk situations. We have developed a fast image scanning 94GHz radar system that is suitable for portable operation and remote viewing of radar data. This system includes a novel fast image-scanning antenna that allows for the acquisition of medium resolution three dimensional millimeter wave images of stationary targets with frame times on order of one second. The three-dimensional radar data allows for potential isolation of concealed weapons from body and environmental clutter such as nearby furniture or other people. The radar is an active system so image quality is not affected indoors, emitted power is however very low so there are no health concerns for operator or targets. The low power operation is still sufficient to penetrate heavy clothing or material. Small system size allows for easy transport and rapid deployment of the system as well as an easy migration path to future hand held systems.