Millimeter-Wave Advanced Imaging Techniques
Open Access
- Author:
- Holl, Nicholas
- Graduate Program:
- Electrical Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- March 10, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Madhavan Swaminathan, Program Head/Chair
Julio Urbina, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
James Kenneth Breakall, Committee Member - Keywords:
- radar
millimeter wave
mmWave
synthetic aperture radar
SAR
imaging
radar imaging
millimeter wave radar imaging - Abstract:
- In this thesis I present some initial validation for a method of recognizing human finger pose using a 77-81 GHz transmitter-receiver system. This method is intended for mapping finger pose continuously to a computer model, while the closest existing gesture-recognition technology can only identify a discrete number of hand gestures. Continuous pose mapping is accomplished first by designing or selecting a suitable radar system and collecting training data, then feeding verified results from the simulation into a machine learning algorithm that is able to develop a robust understanding of the return signal. This trained network is then integrated into the overall system and from there the system can reconstruct a model of the human hand with comparable accuracy to a depth camera, but based solely on the return from the antenna. The framework proposed here is a first step toward accomplishing this final goal and answers the question of whether or not it would be feasible and worth exploring. I find that this goal is achievable. I find that the received signal composition is a good candidate for the proposed system, and a similar machine learning problem has been solved that parallels the one proposed here very strongly. I also explore applications of millimeter-wave radar to in-situ ionospheric parameter measurements and synthetic aperture radar simulation in Matlab. I find a gap in space-sensing that can be addressed by using millimeter-wave radar. I introduce a radar simulator in Matlab that can be used for interactive and customizable educational purposes, aimed mostly at undergraduate students and increasing their interest in the field of radar.