Fast Quantitative Microwave Imaging With Scattered-Power Maps

A new direct-inversion method, scattered-power mapping (SPM), for fast quantitative microwave imaging is introduced. It builds on a recently proposed inversion strategy that demonstrated quantitative direct reconstruction with experimentally acquired system point-spread functions. In comparison with this initial work, SPM features a drastic improvement in the computational time along with reduced number of calibration measurements. Moreover, SPM is versatile allowing a forward model of scattering cast either as a linearized Born model or as a Rytov model. SPM is intended as a tool to solve weak-scattering problems or as a linear-inversion module within nonlinear iterative reconstruction.