Resolution analysis of a Radio Frequency Tomography system

Abstract

In this work, we analyze the resolution performance of a Radio Frequency (RF) Tomography system developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago, by commenting on results obtained from both simulations and measurements. RF Tomography (see L. Lo Monte et al., “Radio Frequency Tomography for Tunnel Detection,” IEEE Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 48, No. 3, Mar. 2010, pp. 1128-1137) promises to be a very attractive imaging technology because it is narrowband, it makes use of distributed inexpensive sensors and offers sub-wavelength resolution. Some crucial applications include underground exploration, medical imaging, search and rescue, archeology, and thru-wall imaging, thanks to a very flexible forward model. All these different application share the search of a target by reconstructing images through information measured by the sensors. The resolution achievable through a system of this kind can affect the estimation of the size and the location of the target, and it is therefore one of the main criteria used to judge the overall performance of the system.