Three-Dimensional Near-Field Microwave Imaging Using Hybrid Linear Sampling and Level Set Methods in a Medium With Compact Support

A hybrid shape reconstruction algorithm based on the near-field microwave imaging approach is presented. A combination of the linear sampling and level set methods is used to calculate the shape of three-dimensional scatterers in a background region with compact support. In this regard, the dyadic Green´s function of the background environment is calculated numerically. Since the discretization of the near-field integral equation in the matrix form is ill conditioned, regularization is used for solving this problem. The Chan-Vese and level set method are used to retrieve the accurate shape. Different imaging examples are presented to show the stability of the method once exposed to the noise. Furthermore, application of the method in through the wall and immersed object imaging is demonstrated.