Imaging Systems and Related Methods Including Radar Imaging with Moving Arrays or Moving Targets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020320731-A1
Application number	US-202016837779-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 1, 2020
Priority date	Apr 4, 2019
Publication date	Oct 8, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Imaging systems, including radio frequency, microwave and millimeter-wave arrangements, and related methods are described. According to one aspect, an imaging system includes an antenna array, a position capture system configured to generate position information indicative of locations of one of the antenna array and the target at the first and second moments in time, and wherein the one of the antenna array and the target move between the first and second moments in time, a transceiver configured to control the antenna array to emit electromagnetic energy towards the target and to generate an output that is indicative of the received electromagnetic energy, a data acquisition system configured to generate radar data, processing circuitry configured to process the position information and the radar data to generate image data regarding the target, and an interface configured to use the image data to generate visual images regarding the target.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An imaging system comprising:
an antenna array configured to emit electromagnetic energy towards a target and to receive electromagnetic energy reflected from the target at first and second moments in time; a position capture system configured to generate position information indicative of locations of one of the antenna array and the target at the first and second moments in time, and wherein the one of the antenna array and the target move between the first and second moments in time; a transceiver configured to control the antenna array to emit the electromagnetic energy towards the target and to generate an output that is indicative of the electromagnetic energy received via the antenna array; a data acquisition system coupled with the transceiver and configured to use the output from the transceiver to generate radar data; processing circuitry configured to process the position information and the radar data to generate image data regarding the target; and an interface configured to use the image data to generate visual images regarding the target.

2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the position capture system is an optical position capture system configured to monitor the locations of the one of the antenna array and the target at the first and second moments in time.

3 . The system of claim 2 wherein the optical position capture system comprises a plurality of cameras individually configured to monitor the locations of the one of the antenna array and the target at the first and second moments in time.

4 . The system of claim 3 wherein the cameras are positioned at fixed locations about a position capture volume and the one of the antenna array and the target move within the position capture volume.

5 . The system of claim 3 wherein the optical position capture system is configured to monitor locations of markers on the one of the antenna array and the target to generate the position information.

6 . The system of claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to use the position information to weight intensities of a plurality of voxels of the radar data.

7 . The system of claim 1 wherein the antenna array comprises a plurality of transmit antennas arranged in a first column and a plurality of receive antennas arranged in a second column.

8 . The system of claim 7 wherein the one of the antenna array and the target move between the first and second moments in time in a direction which is substantially orthogonal to the first column and the second column.

9 . The system of claim 8 wherein the first and second columns define a first axis of an aperture comprising a plurality of voxels, the movement of the one of the antenna array and the target defines a second axis of the aperture, and the transceiver is configured to emit the electromagnetic energy having a plurality of different frequencies within a frequency range to define a third axis of the aperture.

10 . The system of claim 1 wherein the aperture comprises a plurality of voxels, and the transceiver is configured to control the antenna array to emit the electromagnetic energy having a plurality of different frequencies for each of the voxels.

11 . The system of claim 1 wherein the antenna array is positioned at the same location at the first and second moments in time, and the target moves with respect to the antenna array between the first and second moments in time.

12 . The system of claim 1 wherein the target is positioned at the same location at the first and second moments in time, and the antenna array moves with respect to the target between the first and second moments in time.

13 . The system of claim 1 wherein the transceiver is configured to control the emission of electromagnetic energy in a frequency range of 0.1-100 GHz from the antenna array.

14 . The system of claim 1 wherein the transceiver is configured to control the emission of electromagnetic energy in a frequency range of 10-20 GHz from the antenna array.

15 . The system of claim 1 wherein the transceiver is configured to control the emission of electromagnetic energy including a sweep of a plurality of different frequencies of a bandwidth.

16 . The system of claim 1 wherein the position information and the radar data are synchronized in time with respect to one another.

17 . The system of claim 1 wherein the antenna array is embodied in a scanning device configured to be held and moved by a user between the first and second moments in time.

18 . The system of claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to use the position information to determine a plurality of ranges between the transmit and receive antennas and a plurality of voxels of a scanned aperture at the first and second moments in time, and to use the determined ranges to generate the image data regarding the target.

19 . The system of claim 1 wherein the images are three-dimensional images of the target.

Assignees

• Battelle Memorial Institute

Inventors

• Sheen David M
• Clark Richard Trevor
• Tedeschi Jonathan R
• Jones A Mark
• Hall Thomas E

Classifications

• H04N23/90

  Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums · CPC title

• G01S13/867

  Combination of radar systems with cameras · CPC title

• G01S7/356

  involving particularities of FFT processing · CPC title

• G01S13/90

  using synthetic aperture techniques {, e.g. synthetic aperture radar [SAR] techniques} · CPC title

• G06T7/70 Primary

  Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80) · CPC title