Less Becomes More for Microwave Imaging: Design and Validation of an Ultrawide-Band Measurement Array

A compact, enclosed, ultrawide-band (UWB) antenna array is presented to acquire data for a quantitative microwave imaging method. Compared to existing systems, the proposed array allows a UWB antenna to be placed close to a target object while, at the same time, minimizing the volume of the imaging array. The antennas and metallic enclosure are designed to easily integrate with an iterative threedimensional (3-D) nonlinear inverse scattering technique. The volume of the internal imaging domain has been minimized for this particular architecture to reduce the computational time spent on reconstructing the dielectrics within the domain. Each cavity-backed element radiates toward the target and presents stable transmission characteristics across the 1-4-GHz band.