UWB-radar based surface permittivity estimation in hostile and pathless security scenarios

Ultra-wideband radar analysis provides a high range resolution, which is not only important for ranging, but also for the material analysis of objects. This paper introduces a novel approach for a nondestructive and in-situ estimation of material characteristics. The developed technique was inspired by the already well established optical ellipsometry and is best suited for the remote inspection of hostile indoor scenarios with robots. The paper gives an overview about the technique and its current status of research and focuses on the realisation using only few mechanical components.