Time-Reversal Microwave Tomography Using Frequency Domain Sampling

A microwave tomographic imaging system using time-reversal processing with frequency domain sampling is presented. Time-reversal imaging enables faster and more computationally efficient processing than traditional tomographic inverse approaches, leading to the potential for fast, near-real-time microwave tomography. The resolution of time-reversal imaging is dependent on the waveform duration, and rather than generating short-pulse waveforms, the presented system synthesizes short pulses by sampling over a broad bandwidth of discrete frequencies. This approach has the potential for low-cost, fast microwave tomographic imaging. A 1-5 GHz system using planar antennas is presented, and measured results of simple targets, both a PEC cylinder and a dielectric cylinder, are shown.