Redefining the future of electromagnetic sensing: portable single-pixel millimeter-wave cameras operating in real-time

电磁成像给我们带来了一种新的视觉，让我们看到了看不见的东西。它之所以能做到这一点，是因为它能够看透大多数光学不透明的材料。这对于食品、材料和结构的安全筛查和无损评估等应用具有重要意义。然而，现有技术目前的局限性阻碍了电磁成像系统的大规模采用，因为它们仅限于非常具体的利基应用，例如使用展台大小的系统在机场进行安检，而这些应用在其他情况下是负担不起的。低成本、便携的解决方案，如由该研究员首创的徒手成像系统，提供了一种颠覆性的解决方案，重新定义了未来的电磁传感技术。然而，这些系统存在采集时间长的问题，并且需要相当复杂的硬件，这限制了它们作为便携式扫描仪(相干计算成像)的使用。因此，未来的便携式毫米波相机需要做出巨大的改变，才能成为实时应用的可行选择。为此，将开发利用压缩传感技术的非相干计算成像框架，这一框架的研究程度很低。该项目的最终目标是克服以前的限制，提供第一个提供实时性能的便携式毫米波单像素成像器。此外，这一奖学金将成为申请人独立研究生涯的开始，申请人将受益于蓬勃发展的研究环境和全面的培训计划。此外，他将得到世界级专家的指导，这将指导他完成研究，并帮助他建立一个大型合作网络。

Electromagnetic imaging gives us a new sense of vision to "see the invisible". It achieves this due to the ability to see through most optically opaque materials. This is of great interest for several applications such as security screening and non-destructive evaluation of food, materials and structures. However, current limitations of the existing technology prevent the mass adoption of electromagnetic imaging systems, since they are constrained to very specific niche applications, such as security screening at airports using booth-size systems, which are not affordable in other contexts. Low-cost, portable solutions, such as freehand imaging systems pioneered by the fellow, offer a disruptive solution to redefine the future electromagnetic sensing technology. Nevertheless, these systems suffer from long acquisition times and demand a significant hardware complexity that limit their use as portable scanners (coherent computational imaging). Therefore, the future portable millimeter-wave cameras require drastic changes to be a feasible option for use in real-time applications. For that purpose, the vastly understudied framework of incoherent computational imaging, leveraging compressive sensing techniques, will be developed. The ultimate goal of this project is to overcome the previous limitations to deliver the first portable millimeter-wave single-pixel imager offering real-time performance. In addition, this fellowship will form the beginning of an independent research career of the applicant, who will benefit from a thriving research environment and a comprehensive training program. Moreover, he will be mentored by world-class experts, which will guide him through his research and will help him to build a large collaboration network.