MIMO based 3D imaging system at 360 GHz

A MIMO radar imaging system at 360 GHz is presented as a part of the comprehensive approach of the European FP7 project TeraSCREEN, using multiple frequency bands for active and passive imaging. The MIMO system consists of 16 transmitter and 16 receiver antennas within one single array. Using a bandwidth of 30 GHz, a range resolution up to 5 mm is obtained. With the 16Ã16 MIMO system 256 different azimuth bins can be distinguished. Mechanical beam steering is used to measure 130 different elevation angles where the angular resolution is obtained by a focusing elliptical mirror. With this system a high resolution 3D image can be generated with 4 frames per second, each containing 16 million points. The principle of the system is presented starting from the functional structure, covering the hardware design and including the digital image generation.