A new work has been published by the researchers of the project to illustrate the capabilities of electromagnetic imaging based on amplitude-only signals. As it has been described in this website, the development of scanners based on amplitude-only (i.e., phaseless) signals is one of the goals of the PORTEMVISION project as this kind of methods rely on simple acquisition schemes (scalar measurements), which are usually much more simple and, therefore, simpler (and cheaper!) to perform. Besides, these systems can easily (well, at least easier than those ones based on amplitude/phase acquisitions) work in broadband (i.e., for a large number of frequencies) and, in the electromagnetic world, it is translated into a better depth resolution.
The work presented in the paper describes how it is possible to compute images based on the electromagnetic signals scattered from a wall and the objects behind. The achieved images have excellent agreement with real-life images enabling the detection of metallic objects (e.g., pipes) at several tens of centimeters beyond the wall. Of course, this method does not damage the wall at all.
Object under test
Object behind plasterboard with the Ka band setup (ad-hoc components)
Object behind mortar and hollow bricks wall at th Ku band (commercial components).
Two setups have been implemented at different bands using commercial components (easy to reproduce!) as well as homemade components. Both systems have been tested for standard building walls: mortar, hollow bricks, plasterboard, wood, etc.
Three-dimensional image for the plasterboard setup.
Three-dimensional image for the hollow bricks and mortar setup.
You can find the preliminary version of the manuscript here. The final version will be available soon in ieeexplorer.
PORTEMVISION 