Millimeter-Waves: The Vision for the Future

如果你能透过恐怖分子的衣服发现隐藏的武器呢？或者观察火山在云层或烟雾下是如何变化的？或者绷带下的图像伤口？或者扫描跑道上的碎片（最近导致协和式飞机坠毁的那种）。如何建立汽车雷达巡航控制或避免碰撞？你如何想象南极上空的臭氧空洞，或者看到银河系外围的恒星是如何形成的？或者理解大爆炸后的宇宙是什么样子？这些都是高频微波或毫米波成像技术可以并且确实已经回答的问题。毫米波遥感技术现在已经发展到可以在几乎任何天气条件下产生高分辨率的距离、温度、反射和速度剖面的3-D图像，包括灰尘和烟雾大气，以及一些明显不透明的材料，如织物和塑料。这是一个快速发展的领域，在过去几年中取得了重大进展，并提供了当前的技术解决方案，解决了当今英国面临的一些最深刻和最热门的问题（特别是在最近伦敦爆炸事件之后）。最新的毫米波成像系统提供视频速率成像，可以透视衣服：尽管媒体广泛报道隐私和安全问题，例如目前关于提供身份证和“反恐战争”的辩论，但成像技术及其影响并没有被公众广泛理解。然而，它代表了一个在很大程度上仍为公众所知的领域，但其中存在许多与隐私和成本与性能相关的问题。这种前沿科学与时事问题的结合，使得这种技术的发展成为公众参与项目的一个有趣而重要的主题。这个项目的主要目的是教育和说明毫米波传感技术提供的另一种世界观，从医学成像，到安全成像，到大气传感，再到整个宇宙成像！该项目还将提供一个平台，与科学家和公众讨论由此类技术引起的与隐私、安全和信任有关的问题。在这个提案中，我们的目标是使用最先进的毫米波成像系统作为一系列关于高频微波成像技术在现代社会中的应用和相关问题的互动演示和/或演讲的中心，展示从日常生活经验到前沿研究课题的遥感应用。除了毫米波成像仪外，还将使用各种较小规模的演示实验来说明遥感科学背后的原理（例如，用测速枪来展示雷达如何探测运动）。该项目旨在突出一个研究领域，该领域得到了EPSRC和工业界的越来越多的资金支持，而英国多年来在该技术的技术开发方面一直处于领先地位。它属于EPSRC（和其他研究委员会）的几个职权范围，包括最近的犯罪预防和探测技术项目。

What if you could see through terrorists' clothes to detect hidden weapons? Or look to see how a volcano was changing underneath cloud or smoke? Or image wounds underneath bandages? Or scan for debris on a runway (of the type that recently contributed to the destruction of Concorde). How do you build car Radar for cruise control or collision avoidance? How do you image the ozone hole over the Antarctic, or see how stars form in the outer reaches of the galaxy? Or understand what the Universe looked like after the Big Bang?These are the type of questions that high frequency microwave or millimetre wave imaging technologies can and indeed already have answered. MM-wave remote sensing technology has now advanced to the point that it can produce high resolution 3-D imagery of range, temperature, reflection and velocity profiles through virtually any weather conditions, dusty and smoky atmospheres, as well as some visibly opaque materials such as fabrics and plastics. It is a fast moving area which has seen major advances in the last few years and offers current technical solutions that address some of the most profound and topical questions facing the UK today (particularly after the recent bombing outrages in London). The latest MM-wave imaging systems offer video-rate imaging with the ability to see through clothes: Despite wide media coverage of privacy and security issues such as the current debate over the provision of ID cards and the 'war on terror', imaging technologies and their implications are not widely understood by publics.Yet it represents an area that is still largely unknown to the public but where there are many issues related to privacy and cost versus performance. This combination of cutting edge science and topical issues makes the development of such technology an interesting and important subject for a public engagement programme.The main aim of this project is to educate and illustrate the alternative view of the world provided by mm-wave sensing technology ranging from medical imaging, to security imaging, to atmospheric sensing to imaging the entire universe! The project will also provide an arena in which issues relating to privacy, security and trust arising from such technologies can be discussed with scientists and publics.In this proposal we aim to use a state-of the art mm-wave imaging system as the centre-piece of a series of interactive demonstrations and/or presentations on the application of and issues surrounding high frequency microwave imaging technology in modern society, showing the uses of remote sensing from commonplace everyday experience right through to cutting edge research topics. Alongside the mm-wave imager, a variety of smaller-scale demonstration experiments will be used to illustrate the principles behing the science of remote sensing (e.g. a speed gun to show how radar can detect movement).This project seeks to highlight an area of research, which has seen increasing funding by both EPSRC and industry, and where the UK has been a leading player in the its technological development of this technology for a large number of years. It falls under several remits of the EPSRC (and other research councils) including the recent program on Crime Prevention and Detection Technologies.