Seeing Through Walls: An Electromagnetic Perspective (for general audience)

The ability of electromagnetic waves to penetrate through various building materials, together with advances in design of ultra-wideband compact radar modules, has made see-thru-wall technology, also known as Through-the-wall radar imaging (TWRI), of increasing importance in a wide range of both civilian and defense applications. In this lecture, an overview of various TWRI technologies, including the latest research in several areas important in the design of TWRI systems, will be presented. Electromagnetic-based techniques for wall parameter estimation to mitigate the adverse wall effects and enhance the efficient imaging and classification of targets within and/or behind walls will be discussed. For efficient imaging, details of fast polarimetric and tomographic based imaging algorithms for both 2D and 3D scenarios will be given, and imaging results for various realistic scenarios using both numerical simulations and laboratory measurements will be presented, Development of wideband and ultrawideband antenna arrays, which are essential in successful implementation of see-thru-wall technology, together with hardware descriptions of two constructed portable systems will conclude the presentation. Throughout, I will include a personal perspective from my own two-decade journey in this interdisciplinary research area. Speaker(s): Prof. Ahmad Hoorfar, Bldg: Pavillon Principal, B 600.16, la Galerie Rolland, 2500 Chem. de Polytechnique, Montréal, Quebec, Canada, H3T 1J4