Metamaterial-based microwave tomography and remote sensing using linear sampling method

Abstract

The linear sampling method (LSM) is a powerful and fast reconstruction approach and has shown capabilities of both remote sensing and tomography imaging in the microwave frequency range. In this paper, we report some recent advances in developing a novel kind of LSM by means of metamaterial (MTM) leaky wave antennas (LWAs) to conduct spectrally-encoded three-dimensional (3D) microwave tomography that can reconstruct a conductive target with coaxial multi-layer and various diameter cylinders. The unique frequency-space mapping feature of MTM LWAs enables an efficient 3D microwave imaging with a larger field of view compared with conventional LSM approaches that usually operate at one single frequency. It is shown that the LSM can also be used to conduct remote sensing for radar applications, such as automotive radar sensors, by incorporating frequency mapping antenna array based on MTM-LWAs. The proposed frequency scanning scheme in combination with the LSM in this article serves as an efficient 3D remote sensing scheme without the use of phase shifters. © 2017 IEEE.