Shape Reconstruction of Three-Dimensional Conducting Curved Plates Using Physical Optics, NURBS Modeling, and Genetic Algorithm

A microwave inverse scattering problem including a method for shape reconstruction of three-dimensional electrically large conducting patches with simple geometries using genetic algorithm is presented. Unknown shape reconstruction algorithm starts from the knowledge of the simulated radar cross-section (RCS) data through back-scattering far-field computation using physical optics approximation. The forward problem involves the computation of the multiple-frequency and multiple-direction RCS of three-dimensional large conducting patches modeled by nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) surfaces. The control points of NURBS are the geometrical parameters, which are optimized for the shape reconstruction procedure. The extended stationary phase method and critical cases, which occur in physical optics computations in the forward problem, are also discussed. Noise effect and the influence of increment in the number of control points of a NURBS over the inversion algorithm are investigated as well. Numerical results are presented to verify the operation of the proposed algorithm