Concealed Weapons Detection using an Uncooled Millimeter-wave Microbolometer System

Published

August 1, 2002

Author(s)

Erich N. Grossman, V. A. Bhupathiraju, Aaron J. Miller, Carl D. Reintsema

Abstract

We describe the status of, and present the first imagery obtained using, an active uncooled mm-wave microbolometer-based imaging system. The microbolometers consist of 2 mm x 6 mm x .02 mm Nb films, coupled to the incident field by annular slot antennas. The system frequency is centered at 94 GHz. Imagery has been obtained using a mechanically scanned primary mirror and single-pixel bolometer, as a prototype for a 120-element focal-plane array still under development. With our most recent version of the optical system, high quality images, with clear detail on a spatial scale of 1 cm, have been obtained with acquisition times of 70 s and a target range of 1.3 m.

Proceedings Title

Proc. SPIE, Infrared and Passive Millimeter-wave Imaging Tech.: Design, Analysis, Modeling, and Testing (Aerosense 2002)

Volume

4719

Conference Dates

April 1-5, 2002

Conference Location

Orlando, FL, USA

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

array, bolometer, concealed weapons, imaging, millimeter-wave

Citation

Grossman, E. , Bhupathiraju, V. , Miller, A. and Reintsema, C. (2002), Concealed Weapons Detection using an Uncooled Millimeter-wave Microbolometer System, Proc. SPIE, Infrared and Passive Millimeter-wave Imaging Tech.: Design, Analysis, Modeling, and Testing (Aerosense 2002), Orlando, FL, USA (Accessed October 17, 2025)