Waveguide flange's shape optimization in microwave enhanced infrared landmines' detection

Abstract

The active infrared thermography, using external energy source to produce a thermal contrast between the feature of interest and the background, is relatively new NDT technique. The microwaves applied in this method as the source of energy, effectively shorten the time needed to receive observable thermal image at the surface of examined specimen. In this paper, above method's application to landmines' detection will be considered. In this case, the microwave generator, connected to rectangular waveguide is used to heat the ground's surface. Obtained thermal pattern should be characterized by uniform temperature distribution. This condition can be met by applying an appropriate waveguide flange, ensuring an even distribution of EM field. In this article genetic algorithm-based optimization will be applied to determine the box-horn based flange's dimensions.