A Fast 2-D Microwave Imaging Technique Using Synthetic Aperture Focusing of 1-D Profiles

A new microwave imaging technique forming the 2-D image from a set of one-dimensional dielectric profiles is proposed. To obtain the 2-D subsurface image, the backscatter data is collected along a line over the tested medium and processed by a conventional synthetic imaging method as done in the synthetic aperture radar (SAR). In this work, every radar range profile is first transformed to one-dimensional dielectric permittivity distribution. Then the obtained dielectric profiles are combined using SAR to build the 2-D image. This technique though cannot be classified as a true two-dimensional inverse scattering method, yields quite reasonable image being much better than using SAR processing alone. Besides, this technique is rather fast and thus suitable in practical subsurface radar systems. As reconstruction of the one-dimensional permittivity profile takes about one second of a standard personal computer time, the whole 2-D image can be obtained in several seconds