Measured System Point-Spread Functions Enable Real-Time Quantitative Imaging

Measured System Point-Spread Functions Enable Real-Time Quantitative Imaging

Prof. Natalia Nikolova
McMaster University,Canada

Abstract: Microwave and millimeter-wave chip transceivers and radars have become widely available and affordable in the last decade, spurring unprecedented growth in imaging, sensing and detection applications. These applications define the current and future growth of the wireless technology toward integrated communication and sensing services. We will briefly introduce the principles of real-time microwave/millimeter-wave imaging, which allows for “seeing” inside optically opaque objects. Through the concept of the system point-spread function, we will show how to calibrate an imaging system so that the images show not only the location and shape of items but also the estimates of their dielectric properties (permittivity and conductivity). The discussion is supported by examples in real-time image reconstruction based on data acquired with near-field measurements.

Speaker’s Bio: Natalia K. Nikolova (IEEE S’93–M’97–SM’05–F’11) received the Dipl. Eng. (Radioelectronics) degree from the Technical University of Varna, Bulgaria, in 1989, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan, in 1997. After a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dalhousie University and McMaster University, she joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McMaster University in 1999, where she is currently a Professor. Her research interests include inverse scattering, microwave imaging, as well as computer-aided analysis and design of high-frequency structures and antennas. Prof. Nikolova has authored more than 270 refereed manuscripts, 6 book chapters, and two books, including the monograph “Introduction to Microwave Imaging” (Cambridge, 2017). She has delivered 50 invited lectures and short courses on the subjects of microwave imaging and detection as well as high-frequency analysis and design. Prof. Nikolova is a Fellow of the IEEE, the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Institute of Canada. She served as an IEEE Distinguished Microwave Lecturer from 2010 to 2013