Pyroelectric Metamaterial-Based Millimeter Wave Imaging System

The standoff detection of potential threats to military personnel is of primary importance to the Department of Defense as a whole. Millimeter wave imagers are one class of sensor systems that have been employed for the detection of a variety of threats including chemical/biological agents, improvised explosive devices, land-mines, and unmanned aerial systems (UASs). More specifically, W-band (75 to 110 GHz) imagers have demonstrated much success for these military specific applications. Unfortunately, a primary drawback of the millimeter wave imaging technique is its high cost. Hence, The Department of Defense continues to seek materials and components that reduce the overall cost of the technology, while retaining its utility and effectiveness. To this end, Ballydel Technologies will computationally design, fabricate, and validate a metamaterial-based millimeter wave imager that incorporates a pyroelectric element. A metal-dielectric-reflector (MDR) design will be designed for optimizing absorption at 95 GHz, with the ability of detecting objects at a distance of 10 meters, with a resolution of 10 cm and a noise equivalent temperature difference of 5 degrees Kelvin (K) or less.