Millimeter-Wave Passive Imaging

Passive imaging sensors operating in millimeter-wave atmospheric windows can capture images through obstacles such as fog, clouds, smoke and clothing. These imagers enable several important applications including theft prevention, low-visibility airplane-landing, concealed weapon detection, covert terrestrial and aerial surveillance, highway traffic monitoring and precision targeting. Passive imagers do not emit any radiation and capture a scene by detecting the natural black-body radiation emitted by the objects in the scene. This unique feature makes mmwave passive imagers particularly suitable for human-body imaging, with no harmful radiation effects. Furthermore, mmwave imagers also solve privacy issues encountered in airport-screening, as the quality of the generated images is sufficient to identify security threats, but not high enough to expose anatomical details.

Existing electronics technologies for passive imaging are bulky and expensive, and are built in proprietary fabrication technologies. There is a need for novel solutions that can significantly reduce the size, power dissipation and cost of passive imaging sensors while improving performance and image quality. Using commercially-available silicon technologies, SaberTek provides mmWave IPs that can enable next-generation imaging systems with higher integration and lower cost.