A feasibility study of a quantitative microwave tomography technique for structural monitoring

摘要

Quantitative microwave tomography is an imaging method based on the solution of a non-linear inverse scattering problem, which is able to provide an objective assessment of a region under test. Such a capability is relevant in the framework of non-destructive structural monitoring, where it allows to process ground-penetrating radar data so to achieve accurate information on the inner status of the probed structure. In this paper, we propose a two-step quantitative microwave tomography approach in which the morphological characterization of the targets is first pursued and then their electric contrast is determined by exploiting the information previously gained. A feasibility assessment of the proposed strategy is given against synthetic data concerning the imaging of a leaking pipeline embedded in a wall.