Research in Image Understanding as Applied to 3-D Microwave Tomographic Imaging with Near Optical Resolution

摘要

Our research in high resolution microwave imaging shows that massive amounts of information about a scattering object can be gathered by measurements that combine angular, spectral and polarization diversity and trade-offs between spectral and angular degrees of freedom can be used to enhance cost effectiveness of microwave diversity imaging systems. The data collected can be used to access the 3-D Fourier space or p-space of the scatterer which can be Fourier inverted to yield 3-D image information either projectively or tomographically (in slices or cross-sectional outlines when the object is metallic). This indicates that three-dimensional microwave imaging of distant aerospace targets at resolutions comparable or exceeding the capabilities of optical imagers (whose operation is severely degraded by atmospheric effects) is feasible. The aim of research described in this report was to attain new levels of image understanding that are useful in the study and demonstration of 3-D microwave remote imaging with near optical resolution or better.