Numerical comparison of mono-static and multi-static array performance in personnel screening systems

The comparison of the modern microwave screening systems is given in this paper in the aspect of employing mono-static or multi-static antenna configuration, with their numerical models described and applied in the presented numerical experiments. The phenomenological model of scattering from human body and foreign objects is used to obtain the radar signal, which is processed according to the given mono-static or multi-static signal processing algorithms. The model of scattering objects is based on point scatterer approximation of their surfaces. The numerical simulations are performed for human body and foreign objects to obtain detailed radar images for mono-static and two multi-static antenna configurations at a single and multiple frequencies. According to the results of numerical simulations, the same quality of radar images, visually assessed by achievable plan view resolution and the level of artifacts, can be obtained by significantly lesser number of antenna elements in the case of multi-static antenna configuration. It was shown that extending the frequency band from 10 to 16 GHz substantially increases the contrast of the foreign objects placed over the human body.