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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2018) | Viewed by 66362

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Professor Natalia K. Nikolova

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Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada
Interests: microwave and millimeter-wave imaging and detection; inverse scattering; high-frequency electromagnetism; microwave devices and antennas; numerical methods for computer-aided analysis and design

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue on “Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection” aims at bringing together a rapidly-growing community of engineers and scientists who work in this field. This research defines the next frontier of wireless technology. The end of the 20th century saw the first wireless revolution which brought about ubiquitous mobile communications. Since, we have witnessed dramatic decrease in the price and size of microwave and millimeter-wave electronics along with the advent of the radio-on-a-chip (RoC), the software-defined radio (SDR), and the single-chip radars operating well into the 70-GHz bands. This has enabled exponential growth of applications in imaging, diagnostics and vehicle guidance. From automotive radar to tissue imaging, from concealed-weapon detection to search and rescue, microwave-sensor research aims at improving our safety and our quality of life.

This Special Issue includes articles that review the state-of-the-art in microwave and millimeter-wave sensors and devices used in both far-field and near-field measurements. It also presents original research on new devices and system-level architectures. A wide variety of applications are addressed, including biomedical imaging, biosensing, biotelemetry, concealed-weapon detection, non-destructive testing, automotive radar, and vehicle guidance.

Prof. Dr. Natalia K. Nikolova
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Microwave sensors
Millimeter-wave sensors
Microwave imaging
Biosensing
Biotelemetry
Biomedical imaging
Concealed-weapon detection
Non-destructive testing
Automotive radar

Published Papers (14 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4555 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Conformal and Disposable Antenna-Based Sensor for Non-Invasive Sweat Monitoring

by Angie R. Eldamak and Elise C. Fear

Sensors 2018, 18(12), 4088; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18124088 - 22 Nov 2018

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 5167

Abstract

This paper presents a feasibility study for a non-wearable, conformal, low cost, and disposable antenna-based sensor for non-invasive hydration monitoring using sweat. It is composed of a patch antenna implemented on a cellulose filter paper substrate and operating in the range 2–4 GHz. The paper substrate can absorb liquids, such as sweat on the skin, through two slots incorporated within the antenna structure. Thus, the substrate dielectric properties are altered according to the properties of the absorbed liquid. Changes in reflection-based measurements are used to analyze salt solutions and artificial sweat, specifically the amount of sampled solution and the sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration. Using the shift in resonant frequency and magnitude of the reflection coefficient, NaCl concentrations in the range of 8.5–200 mmol/L, representing different hydration states, are detected. The measurements demonstrate the feasibility of using microwave based measurements for hydration monitoring using sweat. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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26 pages, 3800 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On the Use of Focused Incident Near-Field Beams in Microwave Imaging

by Nozhan Bayat and Puyan Mojabi

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 3127; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18093127 - 17 Sep 2018

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3131

Abstract

We consider the use of focused incident near-field (NF) beams to interrogate the object of interest (OI) in NF microwave imaging (MWI). To this end, we first discuss how focused NF beams can be advantageously utilized to suppress scattering effects from the neighbouring objects whose unknown dielectric properties are not of interest (i.e., undesired scatterers). We then discuss how this approach can also be helpful in reducing the required measured data points to perform imaging. Driven by the relation between the electromagnetic inverse source and inverse scattering problems, our approach emphasizes the importance of tailoring the induced contrast sources in the imaging domain through the utilized incident NF beams. To demonstrate this idea, we consider two recently-proposed NF beams, and simulate them for imaging applications. The first one is a subwavelength focused NF beam generated by a passive NF plate, and the other is a Bessel beam generated by a leaky radial waveguide. Simple imaging examples are considered to explore the potential advantages of this approach, in particular, toward mainly seeing the object of interest, and not the unknown undesired scatterers. The scope of this paper is limited to homogeneous dielectric objects for which the induced total field distributions in the interrogated objects are similar to the incident field distributions (e.g., those that satisfy the Born approximation). Simple inversion results for focused and non-focused beams are presented accompanied by discussions comparing the achieved reconstructed values. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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13 pages, 6114 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Study of Square and Circular Loop Frequency Selective Surfaces for Millimeter-Wave Imaging Diagnostics Systems

by Wahab Mohyuddin, Dong Hwi Kim, Hyun Chul Choi and Kang Wook Kim

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 3079; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18093079 - 13 Sep 2018

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4512

Abstract

A design method of large-sized square-loop and circular-loop frequency selective surface (FSS) filters for protection of mm-wave imagining receivers is presented. Due to fine cell structure requirements, the performance of the FSS structures at mm-wave frequencies can be significantly affected by fabrication tolerances, especially involved with large-size panel fabrication. Through a comprehensive parametric variation study on the performance of square-loop and circular-loop FSS structures, it is found that the circular-loop FSS structure performs much less sensitively to the fabrication tolerances, thereby producing better and consistent performances with given design values. As a design example, square-loop and circular-loop notch filters resonating at 105 GHz were designed and the performances were evaluated with multiple prototypes. The resonant frequencies of the implemented circular-loop FSS filters deviated by only about 0.5 GHz from the accurate designed value, which can be easily adjusted in the design process. The implemented square-loop and circular loop FSS filters provided low-loss in the pass-band and high rejection of 23 dB at the resonant frequency with good oblique angle performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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19 pages, 5642 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Efficient ISAR Imaging of Targets with Complex Motions Based on a Quasi-Time-Frequency Analysis Bilinear Coherent Algorithm

by Cao Zeng, Mengyi Qin, Dong Li, Hongqing Liu and Yi Chai

Sensors 2018, 18(9), 2814; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18092814 - 26 Aug 2018

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2537

Abstract

The inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging for targets with complex motions has always been a challenging task due to the time-varying Doppler parameter, especially at the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) condition. In this paper, an efficient ISAR imaging algorithm for maneuvering targets based on a noise-resistance bilinear coherent integration is developed without the parameter estimation. First, the received signals of the ISAR in a range bin are modelled as a multicomponent quadratic frequency-modulated (QFM) signal after the translational motion compensation. Second, a novel quasi-time-frequency representation noise-resistance bilinear Radon-cubic phase function (CPF)-Fourier transform (RCFT) is proposed, which is based on the coherent integration of the energy of auto-terms along the slope line trajectory. In doing so, the RCFT also effectively suppresses the cross-terms and spurious peaks interference at no expense of the time-frequency resolution loss. Third, the cross-range positions of target’s scatters in ISAR image are obtained via a simple maximization projection from the RCFT result to the Doppler centroid axis, and the final high-resolution ISAR image is thus produced by regrouping all the range-Doppler frequency centroids. Compared with the existing time-frequency analysis-based and parameter estimation-based ISAR imaging algorithms, the proposed method presents the following features: (1) Better cross-term interference suppression at no time-frequency resolution loss; (2) computationally efficient without estimating the parameters of each scatters; (3) higher signal processing gain because of 2-D coherent integration realization and its bilinear function feature. The simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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32 pages, 11367 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Differential Ultra-Wideband Microwave Imaging: Principle Application Challenges

by Jürgen Sachs, Sebastian Ley, Thomas Just, Somayyeh Chamaani and Marko Helbig

Sensors 2018, 18(7), 2136; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18072136 - 03 Jul 2018

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 5892

Abstract

Wideband microwave imaging is of interest wherever optical opaque scenarios need to be analyzed, as these waves can penetrate biological tissues, many building materials, or industrial materials. One of the challenges of microwave imaging is the computation of the image from the measurement data because of the need to solve extensive inverse scattering problems due to the sometimes complicated wave propagation. The inversion problem simplifies if only spatially limited objects—point objects, in the simplest case—with temporally variable scattering properties are of interest. Differential imaging uses this time variance by observing the scenario under test over a certain time interval. Such problems exist in medical diagnostics, in the search for surviving earthquake victims, monitoring of the vitality of persons, detection of wood pests, control of industrial processes, and much more. This paper gives an overview of imaging methods for point-like targets and discusses the impact of target variations onto the radar data. Because the target variations are very weak in many applications, a major issue of differential imaging concerns the suppression of random effects by appropriate data processing and concepts of radar hardware. The paper introduces related methods and approaches, and some applications illustrate their performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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21 pages, 3061 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Image Reconstruction Algorithms for Confocal Microwave Imaging: Application to Patient Data

by Muhammad Adnan Elahi, Declan O’Loughlin, Benjamin R. Lavoie, Martin Glavin, Edward Jones, Elise C. Fear and Martin O’Halloran

Sensors 2018, 18(6), 1678; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18061678 - 23 May 2018

Cited by 62 | Viewed by 5241

Abstract

Confocal Microwave Imaging (CMI) for the early detection of breast cancer has been under development for over two decades and is currently going through early-phase clinical evaluation. The image reconstruction algorithm is a key signal processing component of any CMI-based breast imaging system and impacts the efficacy of CMI in detecting breast cancer. Several image reconstruction algorithms for CMI have been developed since its inception. These image reconstruction algorithms have been previously evaluated and compared, using both numerical and physical breast models, and healthy volunteer data. However, no study has been performed to evaluate the performance of image reconstruction algorithms using clinical patient data. In this study, a variety of imaging algorithms, including both data-independent and data-adaptive algorithms, were evaluated using data obtained from a small-scale patient study conducted at the University of Calgary. Six imaging algorithms were applied to reconstruct 3D images of five clinical patients. Reconstructed images for each algorithm and each patient were compared to the available clinical reports, in terms of abnormality detection and localisation. The imaging quality of each algorithm was evaluated using appropriate quality metrics. The results of the conventional Delay-and-Sum algorithm and the Delay-Multiply-and-Sum (DMAS) algorithm were found to be consistent with the clinical information, with DMAS producing better quality images compared to all other algorithms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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16 pages, 4881 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sparsity-Driven Reconstruction Technique for Microwave/Millimeter-Wave Computational Imaging

by Thomas Fromenteze, Cyril Decroze, Sana Abid and Okan Yurduseven

Sensors 2018, 18(5), 1536; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18051536 - 12 May 2018

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3692

Abstract

Numerous prototypes of computational imaging systems have recently been presented in the microwave and millimeter-wave domains, enabling the simplification of associated active architectures through the use of radiating cavities and metasurfaces that can multiplex signals encoded in the physical layer. This paper presents a new reconstruction technique leveraging the sparsity of the signals in the time-domain and decomposition of the sensing matrix by support detection, the size of the computational inverse problem being reduced significantly without compromising the image quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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23 pages, 16756 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Active Sensor for Microwave Tissue Imaging with Bias-Switched Arrays

by Farzad Foroutan and Natalia K. Nikolova

Sensors 2018, 18(5), 1447; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18051447 - 06 May 2018

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5147

Abstract

A prototype of a bias-switched active sensor was developed and measured to establish the achievable dynamic range in a new generation of active arrays for microwave tissue imaging. The sensor integrates a printed slot antenna, a low-noise amplifier (LNA) and an active mixer in a single unit, which is sufficiently small to enable inter-sensor separation distance as small as 12 mm. The sensor’s input covers the bandwidth from 3 GHz to

7.5

GHz. Its output intermediate frequency (IF) is 30 MHz. The sensor is controlled by a simple bias-switching circuit, which switches ON and OFF the bias of the LNA and the mixer simultaneously. It was demonstrated experimentally that the dynamic range of the sensor, as determined by its ON and OFF states, is 109 dB and 118 dB at resolution bandwidths of 1 kHz and 100 Hz, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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11 pages, 3254 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Theory and Measurement of Signal-to-Noise Ratio in Continuous-Wave Noise Radar

by Bronisław Stec and Waldemar Susek

Sensors 2018, 18(5), 1445; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18051445 - 06 May 2018

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5200

Abstract

Determination of the signal power-to-noise power ratio on the input and output of reception systems is essential to the estimation of their quality and signal reception capability. This issue is especially important in the case when both signal and noise have the same characteristic as Gaussian white noise. This article considers the problem of how a signal-to-noise ratio is changed as a result of signal processing in the correlation receiver of a noise radar in order to determine the ability to detect weak features in the presence of strong clutter-type interference. These studies concern both theoretical analysis and practical measurements of a noise radar with a digital correlation receiver for 9.2 GHz bandwidth. Firstly, signals participating individually in the correlation process are defined and the terms signal and interference are ascribed to them. Further studies show that it is possible to distinguish a signal and a noise on the input and output of a correlation receiver, respectively, when all the considered noises are in the form of white noise. Considering the above, a measurement system is designed in which it is possible to represent the actual conditions of noise radar operation and power measurement of a useful noise signal and interference noise signals—in particular the power of an internal leakage signal between a transmitter and a receiver of the noise radar. The proposed measurement stands and the obtained results show that it is possible to optimize with the use of the equipment and not with the complex processing of a noise signal. The radar parameters depend on its prospective application, such as short- and medium-range radar, ground-penetrating radar, and through-the-wall detection radar. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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13 pages, 3464 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adaptive Monostatic System for Measuring Microwave Reflections from the Breast

by Jeremie Bourqui, Martin Kuhlmann, Douglas J. Kurrant, Benjamin R. Lavoie and Elise C. Fear

Sensors 2018, 18(5), 1340; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18051340 - 26 Apr 2018

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3924

Abstract

A second-generation monostatic radar system to measure microwave reflections from the human breast is presented and analyzed. The present system can measure the outline of the breast with an accuracy of ±1 mm and precisely place the microwave sensor in an adaptive matter such that microwaves are normally incident on the skin. Microwave reflections are measured between 10 MHz to 12 GHz with sensitivity of 65 to 75 dB below the input power and a total scan time of 30 min for 140 locations. The time domain reflections measured from a volunteer show fidelity above 0.98 for signals in a single scan. Finally, multiple scans of a breast phantoms demonstrate the consistency of the system in terms of recorded reflection, outline measurement, and image reconstruction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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21 pages, 11732 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design of Dual-Mode Local Oscillators Using CMOS Technology for Motion Detection Sensors

by Keum-Won Ha, Jeong-Yun Lee, Jeong-Geun Kim and Donghyun Baek

Sensors 2018, 18(4), 1057; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18041057 - 01 Apr 2018

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6260

Abstract

Recently, studies have been actively carried out to implement motion detecting sensors by applying radar techniques. Doppler radar or frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar are mainly used, but each type has drawbacks. In Doppler radar, no signal is detected when the movement is stopped. Also, FMCW radar cannot function when the detection object is near the sensor. Therefore, by implementing a single continuous wave (CW) radar for operating in dual-mode, the disadvantages in each mode can be compensated for. In this paper, a dual mode local oscillator (LO) is proposed that makes a CW radar operate as a Doppler or FMCW radar. To make the dual-mode LO, a method that controls the division ratio of the phase locked loop (PLL) is used. To support both radar mode easily, the proposed LO is implemented by adding a frequency sweep generator (FSG) block to a fractional-N PLL. The operation mode of the LO is determined by according to whether this block is operating or not. Since most radar sensors are used in conjunction with microcontroller units (MCUs), the proposed architecture is capable of dual-mode operation by changing only the input control code. In addition, all components such as VCO, LDO, and loop filter are integrated into the chip, so complexity and interface issues can be solved when implementing radar sensors. Thus, the proposed dual-mode LO is suitable as a radar sensor. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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16 pages, 4167 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quadrature Errors and DC Offsets Calibration of Analog Complex Cross-Correlator for Interferometric Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging Applications

by Chao Wang, Xin Xin, Bingyuan Liang, Zhiping Li and Jungang Miao

Sensors 2018, 18(2), 677; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020677 - 24 Feb 2018

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5094

Abstract

The design and calibration of the cross-correlator are crucial issues for interferometric imaging systems. In this paper, an analog complex cross-correlator with output DC offsets and amplitudes calibration capability is proposed for interferometric passive millimeter-wave security sensing applications. By employing digital potentiometers in the low frequency amplification circuits of the correlator, the outputs characteristics of the correlator could be digitally controlled. A measurement system and a corresponding calibration scheme were developed in order to eliminate the output DC offsets and the quadrature amplitude error between the in-phase and the quadrature correlating subunits of the complex correlator. By using vector modulators to provide phase controllable correlated noise signals, the measurement system was capable of obtaining the output correlation circle of the correlator. When injected with −18 dBm correlated noise signals, the calibrated quadrature amplitude error was 0.041 dB and the calibrated DC offsets were under 26 mV, which was only 7.1% of the uncalibrated value. Furthermore, we also described a quadrature errors calibration algorithm in order to estimate the quadrature phase error and in order to improve the output phase accuracy of the correlator. After applying this calibration, we were able to reduce the output phase error of the correlator to 0.3°. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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13 pages, 5706 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Envelope Correction of Micro-Motion Targets in the Terahertz ISAR Imaging

by Qi Yang, Bin Deng, Hongqiang Wang, Yuliang Qin and Ye Zhang

Sensors 2018, 18(1), 228; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18010228 - 15 Jan 2018

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3686

Abstract

Motion compensation is a crucial step to inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging, and envelope correction is the foundation of motion compensation. Research on envelope correction based on the small-angle imaging model has matured after years of development. However, the small-angle imaging model is not applicable to parameter estimation and imaging of micro-motion targets. According to the characteristics of the micro-motion targets and the superiorities of terahertz imaging radar, an envelope correction method for micro-motion targets in the terahertz region was proposed in this paper, including the jump error correction based on periodic correction and drift error compensation based on nonlinear fitting. Then a 330 GHz imaging radar and two experiments on corner reflectors and a warhead model were introduced. The validity of the method was verified by the experimental results, and the performance of the method was proved by the inverse Radon transform of the range profile sequences. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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3054 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Parameter Search Algorithms for Microwave Radar-Based Breast Imaging: Focal Quality Metrics as Fitness Functions

by Declan O’Loughlin, Bárbara L. Oliveira, Muhammad Adnan Elahi, Martin Glavin, Edward Jones, Milica Popović and Martin O’Halloran

Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2823; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17122823 - 06 Dec 2017

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 5114

Abstract

Inaccurate estimation of average dielectric properties can have a tangible impact on microwave radar-based breast images. Despite this, recent patient imaging studies have used a fixed estimate although this is known to vary from patient to patient. Parameter search algorithms are a promising technique for estimating the average dielectric properties from the reconstructed microwave images themselves without additional hardware. In this work, qualities of accurately reconstructed images are identified from point spread functions. As the qualities of accurately reconstructed microwave images are similar to the qualities of focused microscopic and photographic images, this work proposes the use of focal quality metrics for average dielectric property estimation. The robustness of the parameter search is evaluated using experimental dielectrically heterogeneous phantoms on the three-dimensional volumetric image. Based on a very broad initial estimate of the average dielectric properties, this paper shows how these metrics can be used as suitable fitness functions in parameter search algorithms to reconstruct clear and focused microwave radar images. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensors for Microwave Imaging and Detection)

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