Automatic Permittivity and Thickness Characterization of Body-Borne Weak Dielectric Threats Using Wideband Radar

This paper proposes a method for determining permittivity and thickness of body-borne objects automatically by processing wideband radar images. The algorithm can be used to find the explosive threats and rule out the benign objects. Having the reconstructed millimeter wave radar image of the body with an anomaly attached to it, we extract the nominal body contour, which shows the body surface in the absence of the object, then we subtract the ideal body response from the image and define the amount of body displacement observed in the radar image which is caused by the signal retardation due to presence of the weak dielectric object and look for the front surface reflection of the attached foreign object. Finally, we calculate the amount of permittivity based on body displacement and the anomaly's thickness.