System and method for standoff detection of human carried explosives

A method for the standoff detection of human carried explosives (HCE) within an area of observation, comprising the steps of:

• cueing at least one radar system at a field of regard containing at least one human target;
• collecting RF signature data for the at least one human target;
• measuring radar signature changes associated with the interaction between radar signatures of the at least one human target and an explosive device carried by the at least one human target;
• statistically combining radar signatures over multiple observations of the at least one target;
• determining the threat status of the target;
• and
• providing the data to a user interface.

A method for the standoff detection of human carried explosives (HCE) within an area of observation using a plurality of HCE detection systems, each HCE system having a radar system, a radar field of regard, an imaging system, and a computer, the method comprising the steps of:

• communicatively linking together the plurality of HCE detection systems;
• overlapping the radar field of regard of the plurality of HCE detection systems;
• creating a plurality of simultaneous radar signatures of the radar field of regard from different look angles;
• determining the threat potential of a target based upon the combined data of the plurality of radar signatures.

A method for detecting explosive devices, the method comprising the steps of:

• illuminating a candidate threat with polarized radiation;
• collecting a first reflected radiation from the candidate threat, the first reflected radiation having a polarization identical to that of the illuminating radiation;
• collecting a second reflected radiation from the candidate threat, the second reflected radiation having a polarization orthogonal to that of the illuminating radiation;
• and
• detecting the change in polarization state induced by the candidate threat.

A system for standoff detection of human carried explosives (HCE) within an area of surveillance, comprising:

• (a) detecting means for repetitively scanning the area of surveillance and for detecting and tracking a human target within the area of surveillance;
• (b) a radar transmitter for transmitting a narrow beam of polarized electromagnetic radiation;
• (c) focusing means for automatically focusing and triggering the beam of polarized radiation emitted by the transmitter onto at least a portion of the human target detected by the detecting means;
• (d) a radar receiver for receiving a portion of the beam transmitted by the radar transmitter reflected from the human target and polarized orthogonal to the transmitted beam;
• (e) a data storage device having target reference data stored thereon, including radar signatures corresponding to humans with and without explosives carried on their person;
• (f) computing means for continuously comparing a reflected beam received by the radar receiver to the reference data to determine when the human target is carrying explosives and for continuously assessing the target detection and tracking data to determine a threat level;
• and
• (g) alarm means for alerting an operator of the system when the threat level determined by the computing means exceeds a threshold.

A method for the standoff detection of human carried explosives (HCE) within an area of observation using a plurality of HCE detection systems, each HCE system having a radar system, a radar field of regard, an imaging system, and a computer, the method comprising the steps of:

• communicatively linking together the plurality of HCE detection systems;
• coordinating the radar field of regard of the plurality of HCE detection systems to encompass a range of interest;
• creating a plurality of simultaneous radar signatures of the radar field of regard from different look angles;
• determining the threat potential of a target based upon the combined data of the plurality of radar signatures.