Friday, October 22, 2010

10/27: The U.S. Army Research Laboratory Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Low-Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): Overview and Signal Processing Techniques

We are very pleased to bring you Lam Nguyen, who is flying up to visit
us from the US Army Research Laboratory. Lam will present his work
on: The U.S. Army Research Laboratory Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Low-
Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): Overview and Signal
Processing Techniques.

This talk will be on Wednesday October 27, at 6pm in the MIT/LL
Cafeteria.

For details, please visit:
http://www.ieeeboston.org/org/subgroups/antennas_propagation.html

This is a special multi-chapter talk, brought to you by AESS, AP-S,
GRSS, and SPS chapters of Boston. A special thanks to Eli Brookner
for setting up this talk.

Please feel free to invite your friends, it is sure to be an enjoyable
evening full of radar, antenna, signal processing, and sensing
discussions.

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Abstract

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This talk first presents an overview of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) UWB low-frequency SAR. The second part of the talk presents the SAR signal processing and image formation techniques employed by the ARL UWB radar. ARL has designed and fabricated a vehicle-based UWB low-frequency SAR for the detection of concealed targets such as obstacles behind foliage, and surface and buried mines. The low-frequency radar also offers the capability of mapping of a building interior, as well as detecting moving targets behind the walls. The radar system can be configured in various modes of operation: forward looking SAR, side-looking SAR, and stationary. The radar transmits time-domain impulses that occupy the frequency band of 300—3000 MHz. The system employs a physical array of 16 receive antennas to provide the necessary aperture for sufficient cross-range resolution in the forward-looking and stationary modes. Two transmitters are located at the two ends of the receive array to virtually double the size of the physical receive array and maximize the cross-range resolution in the forward-looking mode.

The signal processing section includes the suppression of interference signals, the removal of signal distortions due to the moving platform with respect to the scene during the data acquisition cycle, the subband filtering, and the SAR image formation. ARL has developed the Recursive Sidelobe Minimization (RSM) technique that is integrated with the standard back-projection image formation. The technique has been shown to significantly reduce the artifacts due to sidelobes and noise in SAR imagery. This talk presents results from the forward-looking experiments for the detection of obstacles. SAR imagery of a building interior from the side-looking SAR mode is also presented.

Lam Nguyen PhotoMr. Lam Nguyen received the BSEE, MSEE, and MSCS degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, and The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, respectively.

He started his career with General Electric Company from 1984 to 1985. He has been with the Army Research Lab (ARL) and its predecessor organization, Harry Diamond Labs, from 1986 to the present. He has been primarily engaged in the research and development of several versions of ultra-wide-band (UWB) radar since 1992 to present. These radar systems have been used for the proof of concept demonstration in many concealed target detection programs. He has been developing algorithms for SAR signal and image processing. Mr. Nguyen has authored or coauthored over 70 conference and journal publications. Mr. Nguyen received the U.S. Army Research and Development Achievement Awards in 2006, 2008, and 2010.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Huge Success! 2010 IEEE Intl. Symposium on Phased Array Sys. & Tech




I want to thank everyone for attending the 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems and Technology. There were a total of 520 attendees, approximately 180+ papers, two excellent tutorial sessions, and may outstanding meals too!

The papers were very good, most were about systems that were completely modeled, fabricated, and tested.

With all of this ongoing we also found time for some dancing. Shown here are a series of photos of Eli Brookner dancing with my fiancee.

Thank you for attending, looking forward to our next conference.

Greg,
Chair AP-S Boston

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

This week in Waltham MA: 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Sys. & Tech.

Hi everyone,


You can register at the door if you have not done so already.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Greg,
Chair AP-S Boston Chapter

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Don't forget to sign up to the student event at the 2010 IEEE Intl. Symposium on Phased Array Sys. & Tech

Are you a student who is interested in learning about phased array systems, what they are, how they work?

Then be sure to sing up to the free 1-day student event at the 2010 IEEE Symposium on Phased Array Systems & Technology, October 12, 2010 in Waltham, MA.

The IEEE is trying to encourage young people to study engineering as a profession, as a result many of our interesting conferences like this one are offering 1-day student events free to anyone.


The event is free, it includes lunch and a lecture by Eli Brookner, who is well known in the field of phased array radar systems and a great speaker. After lunch the students will get to see the symposium welcome speech by Mark Russell, and keynote by Dennis Picard. Finally, students will get to meet with companies, talk to engineers in the field, and meet other students who are studying antenna arrays in grad school.


As you might guess, it's not easy getting attendance levels up for something as specific as phased array antennas, or even raising awareness of how much fun phased array engineering can be as a career path.


For more information please visit:

website:

http://www.array2010.org/student.htm


student event flyer:

http://www.array2010.org/pdfs/past2010_studentevent_flyer.pdf


student event schedule:

http://www.array2010.org/pdfs/past2010_studentevent_schedule.pdf


To register, go here:

https://mandalore.tchmachines.com/%7Eqtzycpf/forms/phased_array_stu/student_pa_regpay.php


Please encourage any students or student groups that you know to check out this unique and free event. Looking forward to seeing you at the Phased Array Symposium!


Greg

Chair AP-S Boston Chapter