Near-field microwave imaging based on planar aperture scanning

A near-filed microwave imaging setup is investigated. The setup benefits from the high near-field directivity and good efficiency of a recently proposed ultra-wide band TEM horn antenna. The setup employs planar aperture scanning. It consists of two antennas aligned along each other´s boresight and moving together to scan two parallel apertures. The imaged object lies between the two apertures. With a blind de-convolution algorithm, the images are de-blurred. Simulation and experimental results confirm the satisfactory performance of this setup for near-field microwave imaging with possible application in breast cancer diagnosis.