Benchmarking a commercial (Sub-)THz focal plane array against a custom-built millimeter-wave single-pixel camera
File(s)2020_10_IEEE Access.pdf (3.8 MB)
Published version
OA Location
Author(s)
Shin, Sanghee
Lucyszyn, Stepan
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
For the first time, the characteristics of an evolving commercial camera technology that can operate at millimeter-wave frequencies has been independently investigated. In this work, we benchmark the TeraSense camera against a custom-built single-pixel camera at W-band, for image quality and aperture reflectance. It is found that the Tera-1024 TeraSense camera exhibits limited image resolution and fidelity, with significant levels of systematic spatial noise. In a poor signal-to-noise ratio scenario, the addition of random noise exacerbates these problems. Possible causes of both beam and image distortion have been identified in quasi-optical applications, which gives important insight into the best use of (sub-)THz cameras and interpretation of their images. Inherent standing waves caused by the significant power reflectance of the camera aperture is investigated in detail. A simple W-band one-port quasi-optical scalar network analyzer is developed, to determine the levels of reflectance for both cameras, with its bespoke calibration routine derived from first principles - providing a low-cost solution for many non-destructive testing applications. It is found that the TeraSense camera (with additional RAM) and single-pixel camera (having default RAM) have measured reflectance values of 27% and 3%, respectively, over a corresponding aperture area ratio of approximately 714:1. While our single-pixel camera provides excellent image resolution and fidelity, it inherently suffers from very slow raster-scanning speeds and operational bandwidth limitations. For this reason, the TeraSense camera technology is excellent for performing qualitative measurements in real time, with the caveats outlined in this paper.
Date Issued
2020-10-13
Date Acceptance
2020-10-09
Citation
IEEE Access, 2020, 8, pp.191174-191190
ISSN
2169-3536
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Start Page
191174
End Page
191190
Journal / Book Title
IEEE Access
Volume
8
Copyright Statement
© 2020 The Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License URL
Sponsor
UK Space Agency
UK Space Agency
UK Space Agency
Identifier
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9222137
Grant Number
CT11834
PO No: 454400
NSTP3-FT-046
Subjects
08 Information and Computing Sciences
09 Engineering
10 Technology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-10-13