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.