Investigation of fully-polarimetric signatures from targets with some relevance to security applications

Abstract

The actual and continuous threat by international terrorism and the increasing number of terroristic attacks raise the danger to the public and create a new and more complex dimension of threat. This evolution must and can only be combatted by the application of new counter-measures like advanced imaging technologies for wide-area surveillance and the detection of concealed dangerous objects. Passive microwave remote sensing allows a daytime independent non-destructive observation and examination of the objects of interest under nearly all weather conditions without artificial exposure of persons and observation areas, hence fully avoiding health risks. Furthermore the acquisition of polarimetric object characteristics can increase the detection capability by gathering complementary object information. The recent development and construction of a fully-polarimetric receiver at W band allows the acquisition of a new dimension of information compared to former imaging capabilities. The new receiver can be part of various imaging systems used at DLR over the years. This paper will show some imaging results recorded recently from different sceneries.