A Shape Reconstruction Method Using IR-UWB by Illuminating the Target from Multiple Aspects

The impulse radio ultra wide band (IR-UWB) signal has been applied to many imaging systems such as through- wall-imaging, ground penetrating radar etc., due to the ultra wide frequency band and the simplicity of IR-UWB. Several imaging schemes, such as delay-and-sum (DAS), Capon beamforming-based method etc., were proposed in the previous literatures. But there is few method whose aims were to reconstruct the shape of the target. In this paper, a shape reconstruction method employing IR-UWB signal was proposed. The proposed method is based on the DAS imaging algorithm. Multiple aspects of the target were illuminated in the proposed method to obtain more information about the target than what can be obtained through only one aspect in the traditional imaging systems. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method was employed to simulate the received data for the 2-D imaging using the proposed method. From the image results, the shape of target can be recognized. The capability of the proposed shape reconstruction method is verified, and it can be concluded that the more aspects were illuminated, the more precise shape of the target can be obtained using the proposed shape reconstruction method.