NSF/CBMS Regional Conference in the Mathematical Sciences -- Inverse Scattering for Radar Imaging -- Spring 2008

本次会议的特点玛格丽特切尼教授伦斯勒理工学院作为杰出的讲师谁将提供十个讲座领域的逆散射雷达成像。雷达成像的基本思想是用电磁波脉冲照射目标，记录和分析反射波，以便对目标成像或确定其属性。雷达成像领域在过去的50年中完全在工程界发展起来。50年前，许多挑战都是工程方面的：很难设计出能够以必要的高功率传输微波的设备，也很难检测到非常微弱的返回信号。然而，这些硬件问题通常已经被克服，该领域剩下的挑战主要是数学问题：我们应该传输什么波形？我们应该把天线放在哪里才能得到我们想要的信息？我们应该如何处理这些数据来制作高分辨率的图像？我们如何检测和删除伪影？我们能形成目标被树叶隐藏的图像吗？我们可以确定目标的材料属性吗？只有对这些问题进行数学分析，才有可能在该领域取得任何重大进展。对于数学家来说，理解该领域的基本问题并为该领域做出贡献是至关重要的。会议将带来该领域的所有主要思想和成果，提供对主要开放问题的更深入理解，并概述该领域的当前方向。与会者将包括既有研究人员和感兴趣的合格新人，并将特别努力，包括博士后研究员，研究生，和传统上代表性不足的群体。会议将允许与会者相互交流，并与首席讲师交流，促进跨学科工作和合作，在有利于建立长期合作的氛围中促进区域研究活动，并提供一个跨学科的环境，让数学家和其他领域的研究人员互动。

This conference features Prof. Margaret Cheney of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the distinguished lecturer who will deliver ten lectures in the field of inverse scattering for radar imaging. The basic idea behind radar imaging is to illuminate a target with pulses of electromagnetic waves; the reflected waves are recorded and analyzed in order to make an image of the target or to determine its properties.The field of radar imaging has been developed, during the last fifty years, entirely within the engineering community. Fifty years ago many of the challenges were engineering ones: It was difficult to design equipment to transmit microwaves at the high powers necessary and to detect the very faint returning signals. These hardware problems, however, have generally been overcome, and the remaining challenges in the field are mainly mathematical: What waveforms should we transmit? Where should we position the antennas to obtain the information we want? How should we process the data to make high-resolution images? How can we detect and remove artifacts? Can we form images of targets hidden by foliage? Can we determine the material properties of a target? Any significant future progress in the field is possible only if such problems are analyzed mathematically, and it is essential for mathematicians to understand the basic problems in this field and to contribute to the field.The conference will bring all the major ideas and results in the field, provide a deeper understanding of the main open problems, and outline current directions in the field. The participants will include both established researchers and interested qualified newcomers, and special efforts will be made to include postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and traditionally underrepresented groups. The conference will allow participants to interact with each other and also with the principal lecturer, will promote interdisciplinary work and collaborations, will stimulate the regional research activity in an atmosphere conducive to establishing long term collaborations, and will also provide an interdisciplinary environment where mathematicians and researchers from other areas interact