Near-field focusing within a UWB antenna array

A novel UWB antenna system for the high-resolution near-field radar imaging has been developed. Digital footprint focusing and steering is realized using a linear receive array. The design has been verified experimentally. It has been demonstrated that the operational frequency band starts at 170MHz and ends at 3.3GHz at ¿10dB level. The array¿s footprint at a distance of 37cm can be electronically steered along the array up to a maximal displacement of 40cm from its centre. High-resolution radar images of a scene under investigation have been produced using footprint steering.