Design and Analysis of a UWB MIMO Radar System with Miniaturized Vivaldi Antenna for Through-Wall Imaging

The ultra-wideband (UWB) multi-input multi-output (MIMO) radar technique is playing a more and more important role in the application of through-wall detection because of its high resolution, lower antenna requirements, and efficient data capturing ability. This paper develops a novel UWB MIMO radar system using a stepped-frequency continuous-wave (SFCW) signal, which is designed to detect human targets behind the regular brick and concrete wall. In order to balance high range resolution and wall-penetration depth, a novel miniaturized Vivaldi antenna with desired bandwidth of 0.5–2.5 GHz was designed, simulated, manufactured, and successfully used in through-wall imaging. To suppress the artifacts in the focused image and reduce the computing complexity, the cross-correlation-based time domain back projection (CC-TDBP) algorithm was developed. In addition, a through-wall imaging model was established, based on which the effects of the wall on the refraction of electromagnetic (EM) waves and the reduction of velocity are compensated. Finally, different experiments were conducted for multiple stationary targets utilizing the designed radar system, and the improved BP-based algorithms are applied to focus the targets behind the wall more accurately. The reconstructed two-dimensional (2D) images illustrate that the designed MIMO radar system can successfully detect and image human targets in the air and behind the wall.