In interferometric radiometry, the correlations between all pairs of radio-frequency (RF) receivers must be performed in order to obtain the scene visibilities. This represents a cumbersome problem in passive imaging where large signal bandwidths are typically required to achieve fast-acquisition times and improve the radiometric resolution of the image. In this case, the signal distribution and the correlation at intermediate frequencies require very fast signal acquisition and processing subsystems. This paper presents a technique to perform correlations of millimeter-wave signals produced by thermal emission in the optical domain as a solution to the aforementioned problem. The proposed method is based on converting the RF signal to the optical domain by modulating a laser beam with the RF signal using a LiNbO3phase modulator. This conversion allows to perform the signal distribution in the optical domain to obtain the combination of the receiver pairs. The correlation is obtained by measuring the power of the photocurrent produced by photodetecting the combined signal. The results of an experimental validation consisting on the acquisition of passive images using a linear interferometric array are presented to support the feasibility of the method. In addition, performance considerations of the system have been developed and validated by calculating the standard deviation of a visibility measurement.

This paper presents a comparative study of the radiometric sensitivity and spatial resolution of three near-field (NF) passive screener systems: real aperture, 1-D synthetic aperture (SA), and 2-D SA radiometers are compared. The analytical expressions for the radiometric resolution, the number of required antennas, and the number of pixels in the image are derived taking into account the distortion produced by the NF geometry at nonboresight directions where the distortion is dominant. Based on the theoretical results, a performance comparison among the studied systems is carried out to show the advantages and drawbacks when using the radiometers in a close-range screening application. Moreover, the screener performance in a close-range environment is discussed from the results obtained in the aforementioned comparison.

The use of a low-profile, lightweight, and easy-to-fabricate transpolarizing surface placed on one side of a trihedral corner reflector (TCR) as a polarimetric calibrator is presented in this letter. The transpolarizing TCR presents a high backscattered cross-polar response contrary to standard TCRs. The performance of this device has been tested at the X-band using the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya ground-based synthetic aperture radar.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology relies on the modulated scattering technique (MST) as a means to convey the information from the tag to the reader. The interaction mechanism between the reader and the tag is described in a physically meaningful way by the reciprocity theorem which is deeply rooted into Maxwell equations. This approach provides a simple and yet complete formulation that allows to fully describe the interaction between the reader and the tag, even in complex environments. From this formulation, a clear understanding is derived on how the different design tradeoffs affect system performance. Based on this approach, the paper is focused on several issues of practical relevance for antenna tag design such as maximum power transfer, maximum sensitivity, and nonlinearity effects.

The use of a transpolarizing surface placed on one side of a trihedral corner reflector (TCR) as polarimetric calibrator is presented in this paper. The transpolarizing-TCR presents a high back-scattered cross-polar response. This structure has been tested at 9.65 GHz (X-band) with the help of the UPC GB-SAR system.

In this paper, the capability of ultra-wide-band (UWB) sensor arrays for tomographic radar of electrically large objects is presented. The major concern when imaging is extended to real objects is to achieve a correct reconstruction of the object shape and its electric properties. A general framework based on a UWB bifocusing operator (UWB-BF) with good tomographic imaging capabilities is presented. This general approach provides a comprehensive understanding of the basic tradeoffs with regard to sensing geometry and image quality parameters. Through numerical simulations and measurements applied to canonical as well as to complex objects, basic design criteria are assessed and the potential of UWB tomographic radar imaging is presented.

A novel transpolarizing or crosspolarizing surface has been proposed to be applied in polarimetric SAR calibrating systems, like trihedrals, since they can not provide initially a crosspolar response. So the trans-surface has been designed and measured in an anechoic chamber, providing good results for normal incidence.

Spatial diversity is commonly used in a mobile communication system at the base station with receiving antennas separated by several wavelengths, resulting in low correlation between the antennas. It is shown by simulation that acceptable low correlation can also be obtained for an antenna system consisting of two monopoles separated only 0.1/spl lambda/ by using a matching network connecting the antennas, which would make this a possible implementation in a mobile handset.