Three-Dimensional Polarimetric Diffraction Tomographic Algorithm for Real-Time Through-the-Wall Radar Imaging

Wenji Zhang and Ahmad Hoorfar Antenna Research Laboratory, Center for Advanced Communications, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA

Abstract
In this paper a three-dimensional (3D) diffraction tomographic algorithm is proposed for real-time through-the-wall radar imaging (TWRI). The spectral expansion of the three-layered medium dyadic Greens function is employed to derive a linear relation between the spatial Fourier transforms of the image and the scattered field. Then the image can be efficiently reconstructed with inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT). The linearization of the inversion scheme with Born approximation and the easy implementation of the algorithm with FFT/IFFT make the diffraction tomographic algorithm suitable for on-site TWRI applications. The 3D polarimetric TWRI is investigated using the proposed diffraction tomographic algorithm for the enhanced target detection and feature extraction as well as mitigation of the wall effect in the cross-polarization. A novel frequency domain wall mitigation technique is also presented for the removal of the wall ringing effect in the co-polarization. Numerical results are presented to show the effectiveness and high efficiency of the proposed diffraction tomographic algorithm as well as the wall mitigation technique for enhanced 3D real-time TWRI. Experimental results with different set of targets will be given in the presentation.

1. Introduction
The capability of electromagnetic wave to penetrate through the building walls has made TWRI of increasing importance in a wide range of civilian and military applications. The imaging of targets behind the wall is particularly useful in such applications as tracking of hostages and suspects inside buildings, surveillance and reconnaissance, law enforcement, and various earthquake and avalanche rescue missions, to name a few [1-4]. Previously, several effective TWRI algorithms that take into account the wall reflection, bending, and delay effects have been proposed, such as the delay-and-sum (DS) beamformer, subspace based method and linear inverse scattering algorithms [1-4]. Although successful imaging results could be obtained by using the aforementioned algorithms, these algorithms are based on the pixel-by-pixel reconstruction of the image. The computation time increases significantly with the increasing of the number of pixels of the image, making these algorithms still not applicable for real-time processing and dealing with large scale imaging scenarios. For TWRI, a long data processing time should be avoided in order to achieve a real-time tracking of the targets behind the wall. TWRI algorithms must be computationally efficient, so that the imaging of the targets can be achieved within a few seconds/minutes for 2D/3D imaging with a portable computer. Linearized inversion schemes based on diffraction tomography (DT) require much less computational resources and are particularly well suited for on-site application due to the easy implementation of the algorithm with Fast Fourier/inverse Fourier Transform (FFT/IFFT). DT was first proposed by Wolf in [5] and is now widely used in various forms for such applications as medical imaging, optical imaging, geophysical tomography and radar imaging [6, 7]. In this paper, a 3D DT algorithm is proposed for real-time TWRI. In addition to the down range, 3D TWRI provides valuable information about the target extent in length, height, and width. This additional feature is instrumental to effective target classification/identification [1]. The 3D polarimetric TWRI is investigated using the proposed DT algorithm for the enhanced target imaging and mitigation of the wall effect in the cross-polarization. A novel frequency domain wall mitigation technique is also presented in this paper for the removal of the wall ringing effect in the copolarization.

2. Problem Formulation
Figure 1 shows a typical scenario for 3D through-the-wall imaging using a monostatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The transceiver transmits a wideband electromagnetic wave and collects the reflected signal over a rectangular planar aperture that has one or more targets within its field of view. The reflected signal is recorded coherently by the receiver, digitized, and stored in the computer. The data can then be coherently processed using TWRI algorithms to form a focused image of the targets. As shown in Figure 1, Region 0 and 2 are the freespace and Region 1 is the wall whose relative complex permittivity and thickness are denoted as b and d, respectively. The transmitter and receiver are located in Region 0 and operate over the frequency range from fmin to fmax.

978-1-4244-5118-0/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

Figure 1 Configuration of 3D TWRI

Under the illumination of an ideal electric dipole, the scattered electric at the receiver location can be written as where k is the wavenumber in the freespace, Et is the total electrical field inside the target, and (r, k) is the contrast function of the target ( r , k ) = ( r ) 1 . ( r ) is the relative complex permittivity profile of the target. rT , rR and r are the position vectors of the transmitter, receiver and target,

E s ( rR , k ) = k 2 G ( rR , r , k )Et ( r , rT , k ) ( r , k ) dr

(1)

rT = xxT + yyT + zzT , rR = xxR + yyR + zz R , and

(2)

where

r = xx + yy + zz . G ( rR , r , k ) is the dyadic Greens function for the three layered background medium, j G ( rR , r , k ) = 2 dk x dk y F ( k x , k y , k ) exp ( jk x ( xR x ) + jk y ( yR y ) + jk0 z ( z R z ) ) 8
T F= 2 2 k0 k k 0 z
TM

T TE ,TM

(1 ( R =

k x2 k02z k x k y k02z 2 2 2 k x k y k0 z k y k0 z 2 2 k x k 0 z k k y k0 z k
TE ,TM 2

) ) exp ( j ( k k ) d ) 1 ( R ) exp ( j 2k d )
1z 0z TE ,TM 2 1z

2 k x k0 z k T TE 2 k y k0 z k + 2 k k0 z 4 k

2 k y k x k y 0

kx k y k x2 0

0 0 0

(3)

(4)

RTE =

k0 z k1z TM b k0 z k1z 2 2 2 2 ,R = , k = k 2 k , k1z = k12 k , k = k x2 + k y k0 z + k1z b k0 z + k1z 0 z

(5)

and where k1 is the wavenumber in the wall. Under the first order Born approximation, which assumes that the total field inside the target is approximately equal to the incident field, the relationship between the scattered field and the contrast function can be written as where the incident field is given by

E s ( rR , k ) = k 2 G ( rR , r , k )Einc ( r , rT , k ) ( r , k ) dr

(6) (7)

Einc ( r , rT , k ) = j0T G ( r , rT , k )

and where T indicates transmitting antenna polarization direction.

Substituting (3) and (7) into (1) gives

R E s ( rR , k ) =

exp j ( k x + k x ) xR + j ( k x + k ) yR + j ( k0 z + k0 z ) z R exp j ( k x + k x ) x j ( k x + k ) y j ( k0 z + k0 z ) z y y
radar system rR = rT and the reciprocity theorem G (rR, r, k ) = G ( r, rR, k ) has been used in the above equation. Let the 2D spatial Fourier transform of the received scattered field be Es k x , k y , k , then we have

where R indicates the receiving antenna polarization direction, 0 is the freespace wave impedance. For monostatic

jk 3 0 y ( r , k ) dr dk x dk y dk x dk R F ( k x , k y , k ) T F ( k x , k , k ) y 64 4

) (

(8)

E s ( k x , k y , k ) = E s ( xR , yR , k ) exp ( ik x xR ik y xR ) dxR dyR

(9a)

E s ( x R , yR , k ) =
Let

1 4 2

E ( k , k , k ) exp ( ik x
s x y

x R

+ ik y yR ) dk x dk y

(9b)

k x = k x + k x , k y = k y + k , from (8) and (9) one can derive that y

jk 30 ( r , k ) dr dk x dk y R F ( k x , k y , k ) T F ( k x k x , k k y , k ) exp ( jk x x jk y ) y y 16 2
(10)

y R E s ( k x , k , k ) =

exp j k0 z ( k x , k y , k ) + k0 z ( k x k x , k k y , k ) zR exp j k0 z ( k x , k y , k ) + k0 z ( k x k x , k k y , k ) z y y
An asymptotic formulation of (10) can be derived using the 2D stationary phase method when zR is small [6, 7] k k k k k k jk 20 R Es ( kx , k y , k ) R F x , y , k T F x , y , k exp j 2k0 z x , y z R 64 2 2 2 2 2 2

((

) )

( (

))
(11)

( 4k

2 2 k x2 k y ) k x , k y , 4k 2 k x2 k y

where (kx, ky, kz) is the Fourier transform of (x, y, z)/z. The above equation gives the relation between the spatial Fourier transforms of the scattered field and the contrast function. Then the image can be efficiently reconstructed from 2D IFFT with the following imaging formula (12) exp ( jk x x + jk y y ) kx k y kx k y 2 k 20 R F , , k T F , , k ( 4k 2 k x2 k y ) 2 2 2 2 The 3D imaging algorithm can be efficiently implemented as follows. First, perform 2D FFT to compute the spatial Fourier transform of the scattered field. Second, compute the functions inside the inner integral. Third, at each down range pixel apply 2D IFFT to calculate the inner integral and then sum over all frequencies to calculate the outer integral.

( x, y , z ) = dk dk x dk y

2 j 64 Es ( k x , k y , k ) exp j 4k 2 k x2 k y z R

3. Numerical Results
We first present a numerical example to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed DT algorithm for 3D real-time TWRI. Figure 2(a) gives the dimension of the target which is 1.3m away from the front surface of the wall in the down range. The permittivity, conductivity and thickness of the wall are b = 6, b = 0.01S/m, and d = 0.2m, respectively. The measurement data was generated using a 3D Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) code [8]. The simulation was performed with 40 40 monostatic measurements over a 2m 2m planar aperture at a standoff distance of 0.1m. The operating frequency of the radar system covers a range from 0.8 GHz to 2.5 GHz with a step of 26MHz. The investigation domain is a 2m 2m 2 m region and is divided into 80 80 80 pixels. The wall parameter is estimated with a time domain reflectometry in [9], which mainly consists of three steps: i) measure the wall early response in time domain; ii) measure a PEC plate response in time domain at the same standoff distance; iii) calibrate the wall response, using the PEC measurement, to obtain the wall reflection coefficient, which is then used in the parameter estimation. Figure 2 (b) is the 3D imaging result of the target. From this figure we find that the target can be observed in the image, however, part of the detailed feature of the target is masked by the parallel lines in the image. The multiple lines are the images of the ringing signal due to the multiple scattering between the front and back boundaries of the wall. Based on the wall parameter estimation steps in [9] a frequency domain wall mitigation technique is presented in this paper. After the wall parameter is estimated a theoretical formula of the reflection coefficient can be derived using the estimated wall parameter. Then the theoretically modeled wall response, given by Wall ( f ) = -R ( f ) PEC ( f ), can be subtracted from the total cumulative target plus wall response; here R ( f ) is the theoretically modeled wall reflection coefficient with the estimated wall parameter, PEC ( f ) is the FFT of the time domain measured PEC plate response. Figure 2 (c) is the 3D imaging result after wall mitigation. It is clear from this figure that the proposed DT is successful in 3D imaging of the target without distortion or displacement and that the wall ringing effect is significantly mitigated using the proposed wall removal technique. It takes about 30.23s to form the 3D image using the proposed DT TWRI algorithm on a four-core P4 2.66G desktop computer. However, more than 10 hours are required to compute the 3D image using the DS beamformer. The significant acceleration of the imaging speed with the proposed DT algorithm makes the algorithm suitable for on-site applications. Finally, the 3D polarimetric TWRI is investigated using the proposed DT algorithm. Polarimetric imaging benefits TWRI in two aspects. First, polarized signal carries more useful information of the target thus enhancing the accuracy and detail of target detection and feature extraction. Second, for the cross polarized signal the reflection from a homogeneous wall is mitigated and an enhanced image of the target can be obtained. Figure 2 (d) is the 3D HV polarized imaging result without using any wall mitigation technique. From this figure we find that the interaction between the

sphere and square cylinder as well as the two lower corners of the bottom square cylinder can be clearly identified in the image. From this figure we also find that the ringing effect of the wall disappears in the cross polarization. This effect for the cross-polarized signal in TWRI is very helpful in the wall reflection mitigation and target enhancement.

(a) (b) (c) (d) Fig. 2 Imaging result of the target behind the wall (a) target dimension; (b) VV polarization without wall mitigation; (c) VV polarization with wall mitigation; (d) HV polarization without wall mitigation

4. Conclusion
In this paper, a DT algorithm based on the first order Born approximation and spectral expansion of the walls dyadic Greens function is proposed for 3D real-time TWRI. The significant acceleration of the imaging speed with the proposed DT algorithm is achieved due to the following reasons: 1) The coherent summation over all receiver locations in the linear inverse scattering algorithms and DS beamforming algorithm is efficiently computed with 2D FFT, which reduces the beamforming time over the planar synthetic aperture. 2) The solving of a nonlinear equation in order to find the wave propagation path with ray tracing technique in the DS beamformer or the evaluation of the walls Greens function in the linear inverse scattering algorithms is avoided. 3) Instead of the pixel-by-pixel reconstruction in existing TWRI algorithms, the proposed DT algorithm reconstructs all the pixels in the transverse plane at each down range pixel with 2D IFFT, which is much more efficient and less time consuming. The 3D polarimetric TWRI is investigated using the proposed DT algorithm for the enhanced target characterization and mitigation of the wall effect in the cross-polarization. A novel frequency domain wall mitigation technique is also presented for the removal of the wall ringing effect in the co-polarization. Numerical results are presented to show the effectiveness and high efficiency of the proposed DT algorithm as well as the wall mitigation technique for enhanced 3D real-time TWRI. Experimental results with different set of targets will be given in the presentation.

5. Acknowledgments
This work is supported in part by a NSF grant under award number ECCS-0958908. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Lianlin Li for the helpful discussion on the derivation of the dyadic Greens function in this paper.

6. References
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