Design of 3D Imaging Lidar Optical System for Large Field of View Scanning

3D lidar has been widely used in various fields. The MEMS scanning system is one of its most important components, while the limitation of scanning angle is the main obstacle for its application in various fields to improve the demerit. In this paper, a folded large field of view scanning optical system is proposed. The structure and parameters of the system are determined by theoretical derivation of ray tracing. The optical design software Zemax is used to design the system. After optimization, the final structure performs well in collimation and beam expansion. The results show that the scan angle can be expanded from ±5° to ±26.5°, and finally parallel light scanning is realized. The spot diagram at a distance of 100 mm from the exit surface shows that the maximum radius of the spot is 0.506 mm with a uniformly distributed spot. The maximum radius of the spot at 100 m is 19 cm, and the diffusion angle is less than 2 mrad. The energy concentration in the spot range is greater than 90% with a high system energy concentration, and the parallelism is good. This design overcomes the shortcoming of the small mechanical scanning angle of the MEMS lidar, and has good performance in collimation and beam expansion. It provides a design method for large-scale application of MEMS lidar.

A MIMO Radar System based on Fractal Antenna Arrays for Level Measurement Applications

In this contribution, the design of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar system in 77–81 GHz range with 18 transmitting antennas and 24 receiving antennas for measuring the height profile of bulk solids in silos, is presented and discussed. The antenna array topologies are optimized by utilizing space filling fractals in order to approximate a circular shaped antenna array on a hexagonal grid. The proposed MIMO radar system achieves an angular resolution of 3.1∘ for a maximum scanning angle of ±45∘ and a side lobe suppression of 12.6 dB. The performance of the system has been evaluated by test measurements on a sand heap, showing an improved measurement accuracy compared to conventional radar level systems.

A new weighting scheme for arc based circle cone-beam CT reconstruction

In this paper, we present an arc based fan-beam computed tomography (CT) reconstruction algorithm by applying Katsevich’s helical CT image reconstruction formula to 2D fan-beam CT scanning data. Specifically, we propose a new weighting function to deal with the redundant data. Our weighting function ϖ ( x _ , λ ) is an average of two characteristic functions, where each characteristic function indicates whether the projection data of the scanning angle contributes to the intensity of the pixel x _ . In fact, for every pixel x _ , our method uses the projection data of two scanning angle intervals to reconstruct its intensity, where one interval contains the starting angle and another contains the end angle. Each interval corresponds to a characteristic function. By extending the fan-beam algorithm to the circle cone-beam geometry, we also obtain a new circle cone-beam CT reconstruction algorithm. To verify the effectiveness of our method, the simulated experiments are performed for 2D fan-beam geometry with straight line detectors and 3D circle cone-beam geometry with flat-plan detectors, where the simulated sinograms are generated by the open-source software “ASTRA toolbox.” We compare our method with the other existing algorithms. Our experimental results show that our new method yields the lowest root-mean-square-error (RMSE) and the highest structural-similarity (SSIM) for both reconstructed 2D and 3D fan-beam CT images.

Antenna Array Based on Fabry–Perot Cavity with Mechanoelectrical Beam Steering

Introduction. Introduction. Low-profile effective antenna systems (AS) with maintained directional characteristics in a wide sector of scanning angles are required for satellite communication at mobile objects. This article investigates the directional characteristics of a subarray based on a Fabry–Perot cavity and an antenna array with mechanoelectrical beam steering.Aim. To investigate a Fabry–Perot based antenna array with mechanoelectrical beam steering and to estimate its gain and directivity at different scanning angles.Materials and methods. Computer simulations were carried out using the finite element method (FEM), finite difference time domain (FDTD) method and template based post-processing.Results. A subarray based on a Fabry–Perot cavity for an antenna array with mechanoelectrical beam steering was simulated. The efficiency of the subarray comprised at least 65 % in the 11.9…12.5 GHz frequency band. An antenna array based on a Fabry–Perot cavity with mechanoelectrical beam steering was developed and investigated. The calculated characteristics of the developed antenna array agreed well with those obtained experimentally. The gain degradation did not exceed 2.5 dB in the 0…70° scanning angle range. The advantages of using antenna elements based on a Fabry–Perot cavity and developing on their basis mobile satellite antenna systems with wide-angle scanning are noted.Conclusion. The use of a radiator based on a Fabry–Perot cavity and the development on it basis an antenna array with mechanoelectrical beam steering provides an antenna efficiency of no less than 0.5 with a gain degradation of no more than 2.5 dB in the scanning angle range 0…70° from 11.9 to 12.5 GHz.

Novel Beam Scan Method of Fabry–Perot Cavity (FPC) Antennas

A new beam scanning method of a Fabry–Perot cavity (FPC) antenna is proposed. To obtain high gain in a target direction with a reduced sidelobe level (SLL), we devised a tapered partially reflective surface (PRS) as a superstrate. Moreover, to attain various beam scanning directions, a phase-controllable artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) ground plane with a broad reflection phase range and high reflection magnitudes was introduced. In the proposed method, a new formula to satisfy an FP resonance condition in a cavity for a scanned beam is also suggested. According to the formula, the FPC antenna can precisely scan the main beam in designed target directions with well-maintained high gain, which has been hardly achievable. In addition, our method demonstrates the potential of electrical beam-scanning antennas by employing active RF chips on the AMC cells. To validate the method, we fabricated a prototype FPC antenna for a scanned beam at θ = 30°. Furthermore, we conducted an additional simulation for a different beam scanning angle as well. Good agreement between the expected and experimental results verifies our design approach.

Improvement and Optimization of Electromagnetic Integrated Scanning Micromirror

In this paper, the effect of driving system on working performance of electromagnetic integrated scanning micromirror (ISM) is studied. To further improve the optimization design of the electromagnetic ISM, the detailed theoretical analysis, simulation analysis, and experimental test are carried out, respectively. By changing the force form and external magnetic field of the device, the mechanical scanning angle, driving voltage, and resonant frequency of the electromagnetic ISM will be changed accordingly, and then the change of the working performance of the ISM is explored. Through the optimization analysis and comparative test, the optimal design scheme of driving system is obtained, and the effect of driving system on the working performance of the electromagnetic ISM is verified. The experimental results show that by optimizing the structure of the driving system, the mechanical scanning angle of the electromagnetic ISM is increased by about 20%, and the driving voltage is decreased about 10% observably, and the working performance of the electromagnetic ISM is significantly improved. The research results have important significance and practical application value for the extended application of the electromagnetic ISM in the field of optical detection.

T-type folded SIW-based leaky-wave antennas with wide scanning angle and low cross-polarization

In this paper, a leaky-wave antenna (LWA) with wide scanning angle and low cross-polarization is proposed based on a T-type folded substrate-integrated waveguide (FSIW). Transverse slots with a sinusoidal distribution pattern are etched on the surface of the FSIW so that transmission lines with slow-wave characteristics can excite and radiate −1 order harmonics. The length of the transverse slot affects the dispersion characteristics of the transmission line, and the sinusoidal modulation period controls the operating range of the LWA. In the frequency range of 8.3–15 GHz, the proposed LWA achieves a wide scanning ranging from backward −42° to forward +68° continuously. The cross-polarization of the beam is also kept at less than −30 dB during this scanning. A prototype is fabricated and measured to confirm the design, and the measured results show an agreement with the simulated one.

A Wide-Angle Scanning Sub-Terahertz Leaky-Wave Antenna Based on a Multilayer Dielectric Image Waveguide

This paper presents a new layered dielectric leaky-wave antenna (LWA) for the sub-terahertz (THz) frequency range capable of efficient operation at the broadside with a wide beam scanning angle and stable gain. It consists of a conductor-backed alumina dielectric image line (DIL) with two different dielectric layers mounted on top of each other for performance improvement. The upper layer is a high permittivity RO6010 substrate to enhance the directivity as a superstrate and the lower layer is a low-permittivity RT/duroid 5880 substrate stacked on the alumina DIL to prevent the probable excitation of higher-order modes in the DIL channel. A 15-element linear array of radiating overlapped discs is used to mitigate the open stop-band (OSB) problem, fed by the mentioned waveguide, was designed and simulated at frequencies around 170 GHz. The dominant mode of the layered dielectric waveguide is perturbed by the infinite space harmonics generated by two sets of overlapped discs periodically sandwiched between the layers. It exhibited a relatively wide impedance bandwidth of 28.19% (157.5–206 GHz). Its radiation mechanism has been widely studied through simulations. The results revealed that the antenna provides a wide scanning capability through the broadside from −23° to 38°, covering the frequency range between 157.5 GHz and 201.5 GHz. For an array with 15 radiating elements, the simulated peak gain in the band is 15 dBi and the broadside gain is 13.6 dBi at 172 GHz.

Through Wall Imaging Radar Antenna with a Focus on Opening New Research Avenues

This review paper is an effort to develop insight into the development in antennas for through wall imaging radar application. Review on literature on antennas for use in through wall imaging radar, fulfilling one or more requirements/specifications such as ultrawide bandwidth, stable and high gain, stable unidirectional radiation pattern, wide scanning angle, compactness ensuring portability and facilitating real-time efficient and simple imaging is presented. The review covers variants of Vivaldi, Bow tie, Horn, Spiral, Patch and Magneto-electric dipole antennas demonstrated as suitable antennas for the through wall imaging radar application. With an aim to open new research avenues for making better through wall imaging radar antenna, review on relevant compressive reflector antennas, surface integrated waveguide antennas, plasma antennas, metamaterial antennas and single frequency dynamically configurable meta-surface antennas are incorporated. The review paper brings out possibilities of designing an optimum through wall imaging radar antenna and prospects of future research on the antenna to improve radiation pattern and facilitate overall simple and efficient imaging by the through wall imaging radar.