System and method for radio frequency penetration imaging of an object

Abstract

A system and methods for RF (Radio Frequency) penetration imaging of one or more objects in a medium, the system including a generation and reception subsystem configured to generate and receive a plurality of RF signals, an RF antenna array including a plurality of antennas, the antennas being configured to transmit the RF signals towards the medium and receive a plurality of RF signals reflected from the medium, a data acquisition subsystem configured to receive and store the reflected RF signals, and a processor configured to estimate the distance between the surface of the target medium and the antenna array, the delay between the transmitted signals and the plurality of signals reflected from the object using a dedicated frequency sub-band of the received signals, the location of the antennas at each transmitting time, and determine whether there is an object within the medium.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for determining whether there is at least one object within a target medium, the method comprising:
 transmitting a plurality of RF signals by a radio frequency (RF) antenna array to the target medium, wherein said RF antenna array comprises a plurality of RF antennas;   receiving a plurality of reflected RF signals from the target medium;   combining coherently the reflected RF signals by compensating for the occurred propagation delays within the target medium;   estimating the propagation delays, wherein the delays are estimated from a subset of received RF signals; and   determining based on said estimation whether there is at least one object within the target medium.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the delay is estimated using a dedicated frequency sub-band of the reflected RF signals. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising providing an image of the at least one object location. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the image is a two dimensional (2D) or a three dimensional (3D) image. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  comprising providing the intensity of the reflected RF signal of the at least one object. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said RF antenna array is positioned away at a distance from the target medium surface. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the distance is constant or variable. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising estimating the angular orientation between the RF array and the target medium surface. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the distance between the surface of the target medium and the RF array is estimated using the high frequency band of the RF reflected signals. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  comprising scanning the target medium using a mobile device, wherein said mobile device comprising said RF antenna array. 
     
     
         11 . A radio frequency (RF) system for determining whether there is at least one object within a target medium, the system comprising
 a generation and reception subsystem configured to generate and receive a plurality of RF signals;   an RF antenna array, the RF antenna array comprises a plurality of RF antennas configured to transmit the plurality of RF signals towards the target medium and receive a plurality of RF signals reflected from the target medium;   a data acquisition subsystem configured to receive and store said plurality of reflected RF signals; and   at least one processor, said at least one processor is configured to:   combine coherently the reflected RF signals by compensating for the occurred propagation delays within the target medium;   estimate the propagation delays, wherein the delays are estimated from a subset of received RF signals; and   
       determine based on said estimation whether there is at least one object within the target medium. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide an image of the at least one object location. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the system comprises a display and wherein the image is displayed on said display. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide the intensity of the plurality of reflected RF signals. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein said at least one processor is configured to analyze the angular orientation between the antenna array and the target medium surface. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein an interim medium is located between the target medium and the antenna array of the imaging system and the antenna array is positioned or moved in a distance from the target medium. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the distance is constant or variable. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein an interim medium is located between the target medium and the antenna array of the imaging system and the RF array is positioned or moved in the distance from the target medium. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the interim medium or the target medium is selected from the group consisting of: air, concrete, plaster, fluids, human tissues. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the RF signals are Ultra Wide Band signals.