Submillimetre wave 3D imaging radar for security applications

Abstract

There is ongoing worldwide interest in finding solutions to enhance the security of civilians at airports, borders and high risk public areas in ways which are safe, ethical and streamlined. One promising approach is to use submillimetre wave 3D imaging radar to detect concealed threats as it offers the advantages of high volumetric resolution (~1 cm3) with practically sized antennas (<0.5 m) such that even quite small objects can be resolved through clothing. The Millimetre Wave Group at the University of St Andrews has been developing submillimetre wave 3D imaging radars for security applications since 2007. A significant goal is to achieve near real-time frame rates of at least 10 Hz, to cope with dynamic scenes, over wide fields of view at short range with high pixel counts. We review the radar systems we have developed at 340 and 220 GHz and the underpinning technologies which we have employed to realise these goals.