This paper discusses methods of improving the quality and resolution of passive mm-wave images, particularly those obtained using the DERA MITRE imager and the more recent MERIT imager. This later real time imager consists of some novel optics followed by a conical scanner in the form of a disk rotating about an axis through its center and tilted with respect to its normal. A horizontal array of receivers is scanned such that each receiver performs a conical scan pattern in the scene. The resulting image which has a 40 degree by 20 degree field of view, consists of a series of circles whose centers are uniformly displaced horizontally. Each receiver is calibrated initially using a two point correction but then drifts in time and a scene based correction is applied. Following this pre-processing the images are superresolved using nonlinear restoration techniques. These various processes are described and images presented.

Date Published: 14 July 1999
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 3703, Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology III, (14 July 1999); doi: 10.1117/12.353001

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3703:
Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology III
Roger M. Smith, Editor(s)