Real-Time Millimeter-Wave Imaging With Linear Frequency Modulation Radar and Scattered Power Mapping

We present a novel real-time image reconstruction method processing linear frequency modulated (LFM) signals. The method exploits the principles of the Fourier-space scattered power mapping (F-SPM). We show that F-SPM, originally developed for frequency-domain signals, can be easily modified to process time-domain data with the same reconstruction speed and image quality. To facilitate validation, we have developed an in-house time-domain radar simulator, which generates synthetic LFM data much faster than full-wave time-domain simulations, which are prohibitively slow. The new image-reconstruction method is validated through synthetic data generated by the radar simulator as well as experimental data acquired with off-the-shelf millimeter-wave (77 to 81 GHz) LFM radar. Comparisons in terms of reconstruction speed and accuracy are carried out with the method of microwave holography, which is deemed the fastest image-reconstruction method for LFM radar.