Geology

Image resolution

Continuous-wave radar

Radar imaging

Inverse synthetic aperture radar

Software engineering

Agile software development

Artificial intelligence

Computer science

Side looking airborne radar

Synthetic aperture radar

Computer vision

Radar

Remote sensing

Telecommunications

IEEE Access

The aim of this paper is to present a freehand scanning system with a compact mm-wave radar. In order to achieve high-resolution images, the system exploits the free movements of the radar to create a synthetic aperture. However, in contrast to conventional synthetic aperture radar (SAR), in which canonical acquisition surfaces (e.g., planes or cylinders) are used, the system allows for a given tolerance compatible with real hand-made trajectories. Moreover, different techniques are studied to compensate for the impact of irregular sampling to reduce the artifacts in the image. As a result, real-time scanning can be readily performed even by inexperienced users. The scanning system, comprising a commercial motion capture system and an mm-wave module, can be easily deployed and calibrated. Several results involving different objects are shown to illustrate the performance of the system.

Freehand, Agile, and High-Resolution Imaging With Compact mm-Wave Radar