Imaging system

An imaging system for generating a three-dimensional image of a body part comprising:

• a three-dimensional profiler arranged to scan the body part and obtain surface profile information;
• a radar device arranged to transmit broadband non-ionizing radiation having frequencies of at least approximately 10 GHz into the body part and then receive non-ionizing radiation reflected back from the body part at multiple scan locations defining a synthetic aperture relative to the body part to thereby obtain radiation information at each of the scan locations, the imaging system being arranged to cause relative movement between one or more operable antenna elements of the radar device and the body part and sequential operation of the antenna element(s) to obtain the radiation information at each of the scan locations;
• and
• a control system arranged to operate the three-dimensional profiler and radar device, and also being arranged to receive and process the radiation information obtained at each of the scan locations and the surface profile information to generate a three-dimensional image of the body part that has multiple image points by synthetically focusing the radiation information obtained at each of the scan locations.

A high-resolution imaging system for generating a three-dimensional image of a body part comprising:

• a three-dimensional profiler arranged to scan the body part and obtain surface profile information;
• a radar device arranged to transmit microwave radiation at multiple discrete frequencies of at least approximately 10 GHz over a frequency band into the body part and then receive microwave radiation reflected back from the body part at an array of scan locations that defines a synthetic aperture relative to the body part to thereby obtain radiation information at each of the scan locations, the imaging system being arranged to cause relative movement between one or more operable antenna elements of the radar device and the body part and sequential operation of the antenna element(s) to obtain radiation information at each of the scan locations;
• and
• a control system arranged to operate the three-dimensional profiler and radar device, and also being arranged to receive and process the radiation information obtained at each of the scan locations and the surface profile information to generate a three-dimensional image of the body part that has multiple image points by synthetically focusing the radiation information obtained at each of the scan locations.

An imaging system for generating a three-dimensional radar image of a body part comprising:

• a three-dimensional profiler arranged to scan the body part and obtain three-dimensional geometric surface profile information;
• a radar device arranged to transmit microwave radiation at multiple discrete frequencies of at least approximately 10 GHz over a frequency band into the body part and then receive microwave radiation reflected back from the body part at an array of scan locations that defines a synthetic aperture relative to the body part to thereby obtain radiation information at each of the scan locations, the imaging system being arranged to cause relative movement between one or more operable antenna elements of the radar device and the body part and sequential operation of the antenna element(s) to obtain radiation information at each of the scan locations;
• and
• a control system arranged to operate the three-dimensional profiler and radar device, and also being arranged to receive and process the radiation information obtained at each of the scan locations and the surface profile information to generate a three-dimensional radar image of the body part that has multiple image points, the control system being arranged to synthetically focus the radiation information obtained at the array of scan locations to construct each image point by equalising the radiation information obtained at the array of scan locations and then summing over all scan locations and all discrete frequencies.