A microwave imaging method for NDE/NDT based on the SMW technique for the electromagnetic field prediction

In the framework of microwave imaging techniques for NDE/NDT, this paper presents an innovative approach based on the use of the SMW inversion procedure for the electric field prediction. Starting from the integral form of inverse scattering equations, the problem of determining the presence of an unknown defect in a known host domain is recast into an optimization one by defining a suitable cost function and reducing the problem unknowns only to the flaw "descriptors". By considering the effective inversion technique based on the SMW formula, the estimation of the secondary unknowns (namely, the electric field distributions) is performed in a cost-effective way. Selected numerical results are finally presented in order to validate the approach showing current potentialities and limitations.