Greg Charvat earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2007,
and his dissertation described a low-power radar imaging system
(PDF download). Now Dr. Charvat has made his dissertation
available for anyone to download. This system uses the
combination of a spatially diverse antenna array, a high
sensitivity range-gated frequency-modulated continuous wave
(FMCW) radar system, and an airborne synthetic aperture radar
(SAR) imaging algorithm to produce near real-time high
resolution imagery of what is behind a dielectric wall. This
system is capable of detecting and providing accurate imagery of
target scenes made up of objects as small as 6 inch tall
metallic rods and cylinders behind a 4 inch thick dielectric
slab. A study is conducted of through-dielectric slab imaging by
the development of a 2D model of a dielectric slab and cylinder.
The SAR imaging algorithm is developed and tested on this model
for a variety of simulated imaging scenarios and the results are
then used to develop an unusually high sensitiv