Concealed Weapon Detection with Active and

Passive Millimeterwave Sensors, Two Approaches

Helmut Essen1 , Hans-Hellmuth Fuchs1 , Manfred Hägelen1 , Stephan Stanko1 , Denis Nötel1 ,
Sreenivas Erukulla1 , Johann Huck1 , Michael Schlechtweg2 , Axel Tessmann2
1
Research Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques (FGAN-FHR),
Neuenahrer Str. 20, D-53343 Wachtberg, Email: Essen@fgan.de
2
Fraunhofer Institut für Angewandte Festkörperphysik (IAF)
Tullastr. 72, D-79108 Freiburg, Email: Michael.Schlechtweg@iaf.fraunhofer.de

Abstract— The increasing interest in the security of public

spaces leads to a demand for sensor technology beyond metal
detectors. Two different approaches of concealed weapon detec-
tion using millimeter wave systems are presented in this paper.
The design of a passive radiometric sensor in the W-band is
presented. On the active side, an FMCW radar system at 94 GHz
is introduced for the scanning of persons. The resulting images
are shown which enable a first comparison of both approaches.

I. I NTRODUCTION
Sensors used for security purposes have to cover the non-
invasive control of humans, baggage and letters with the
aim to detect weapons, explosives and chemical or biological
threat material. Those sensors have to cope with different
environmental conditions. Preferably, the control of people has Fig. 1. Radiometric channel of the Dicke type (top), layout of an LNA (right)
to be done over a longer distance. In times of increasing threat and LNA performance (left) [1].
by terrorist attacks the control of passengers at airports and
stations is one of the major items. People carrying concealed
weapons or explosives or those, who have other terroristic
attacks in mind, have to be detected under all circumstances.
Very similar requirements have to be met for all aspects of
homeland security. Currently, emphasis is placed on system
concepts and technology for this type of applications employ-
ing millimeterwave, submillimeterwave and terahertz sensors.
This is based on the capability of these frequency bands to Fig. 2. Functional diagram of single chip FMCW radar (left) and layout at
look through textile material and the possibility to achieve 94 GHz (right)[2].
a geometric resolution, which is sufficient to resolve critical
items within the necessary range.
receiver and the matched second port, which serves as a ref-
II. M ILLIMETERWAVE T ECHNOLOGY FOR S ECURITY erence. While the bandwidth of the amplifier chain is 20 GHz,
A PPLICATIONS the total bandwidth is limited by the PIN switch to 4 GHz.
The overall gain, in this case, is 60 dB. The general set-up
Due to other applications, civilian and military, the fre- and a photo of the LNA layout as well as typical performance
quency region around 94 GHz is best developed. Both, devices curves are shown in Figure 1. To show the rapid improvements
and components, have been designed and manufactured by in LNA development, the system was then modified to work
Fraunhofer IAF, who have been involved with the demon- as a total power sensor. By definition, a total power setup is
strators discussed below. Key components are low noise and twice as sensitive as a Dicke type system and offers a lower
medium power HEMT amplifiers [1] and a miniaturized single system noise temperature as no PIN switch is necessary at its
chip FMCW radar at 94 GHz [2]. input. The second demonstrator, which was involved in the
Demonstrators have been set up using active and passive comparative test, is based on the single chip FMCW radar at
sensors. A single channel Dicke type radiometer was designed 94 GHz sketched in Figure 2. It was combined with a linear
using three stacked LNAs and a PIN SPDT to switch between scanning antenna [3] for the azimuth scan and mounted on a

Fig. 3. Scanning beam antenna for the FMCW radar at 94 GHz
single axis positioner for the elevation scan. Figure 3 shows a
photo of the scanning beam antenna.
III. S HORT R ANGE I MAGING FOR C ONCEALED W EAPON
D ETECTION AT 94 GH Z
A. Passive Sensing
Passive mm-wave imaging with or without artificial illumi-
nation by an incoherent noise source is optimal for detecting
concealed weapons, which are worn under any kind of clothes.
Because of the incoherent illumination, no polarizing effects
on the surface or in the clothing material itself occur.
Fig. 4. Photo of sample array of holes and its radiometric raw image
The measurements were done with natural illumination
through a window and to be more representative for indoor
applications with an incoherent noise source illuminating the
scene. First results were achieved at relatively slow scanning
speed using a dummy instead of a human being. During these
experiments the scanning scheme was optimized. Figure 4
shows the measurement result for a sample consisting of a
linear array of holes in a metal plate without any image
processing applied. The radiometric image demonstrates the
distortions due to scanning and also the limits of resolution
with respect to reproduction of the true geometry and due to
noise.
To test the possibility of detecting concealed objects, either
metallic or not, like a gun, in a first step measurements were
conducted with a dummy wearing a coat with a hidden gun
and two other metallic objects. To enhance the contrast of the
metallic items the radiometric image was processed using a
threshold algorithm. Using different sample objects made up
of metal, ceramic and plastic material, it was shown that it
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 5. Indoor images at 94 GHz (Dicke radiometer) for a human with a
concealed gun without illumination (a), a dummy with illumination (b) and
an illuminated human carrying chocolate and a gun (c).
is possible not only to detect suspicious materials but also to
get a significant image showing the outline of the object. Due
to limitations in the scanning algorithm the scanning time for
these first experiments was unacceptably low at approximately
20 minutes.
With the advent of LNAs with an improved noise figure,
as described in Section 1, effort was put into an optimisation
of the scanning process. The scanning time was reduced to
2.5 minutes using only a single channel receiver. This enabled
measurements of sample objects under the clothing of real
humans even in indoor environments [4]. Fig. 5a shows a
radiometric image of a man with a gun hidden under his
jacket. Fig. 5b shows a dummy in a similar arrangement
in a closed room but with artificial illumination. As the
detection of plastics and explosives is an important issue,
measurements using chocolate as a replacement for explosives
were conducted. Fig. 5c shows the result of a human carrying
a gun and a block of chocolate under the clothes, illuminated
by a noise source.
LNA LNA
4GHz
LNA
Filter Lowpass
Video
Quadratur
Detector
Fig. 6. Radiometric sensor in total power setup avoiding the Dicke type
switch. The overall gain of the LNAs is around 60 dB. This system is twice
as sensitive as a Dicke type sensor.
Using radiometers with LNAs so stable that a Dicke type
system can be replaced by a total power sensor (see also Fig. 6)
leads to reduced noise temperature and therefore increased
dynamic range of the system.
Figure 7 shows an example of a radiometric outdoor mea-
surement using a total power radiometer at 94 GHz. Weapons
and other devices can be detected although hidden inside a
coat. It must be emphasized that the ceramic knife is detected,
which is not possible with a conventional metal detector. This
measurement shows well the high spacial resolution of the
scanning system, especially when looking at the cell phone and
the PDA, where you can see many details of the objects. The
Fig. 7. Photo (left) and radiometric image (right) of a person scanned with
a total power sensor under outdoor conditions. In the left picture the weapons
(gun and ceramic knife) were put in front of the coat for clarification reasons.
While producing the radiometric image (left) they were hidden inside the coat.
The high spacial resolution of the system using 94 GHz, is noticed from the
image, which is why so many details of the scene are clearly visible. For
example, the darker display and the brighter housing of the PDA are clearly
distinguishable. A cell phone is visible on the other hanging upright. Details
like the display as well as the keyboard and the small external antenna are
detected.
Fig. 8. Radiometric outdoor images of persons concealing weapons under
leather jackets using a Dicke radiometer [5].
pictures in Figure 8 show measurements of humans wearing
concealed weapons under leather jackets.
B. Active Imaging
For a direct comparison between an active and a passive
scanning system a demonstrator based on a FMCW radar
module at 94 GHz was developed und assembled (Fig. 9).
Due to the scanning beam antenna a 2-dimensional scan of
a person can be performed much faster than by using a two
axis positioner. The duration of a complete measurement is
typically in order of a few minutes. Because the antenna’s field
of view is limited to ±10◦ the optimum distance to the target
is about 3 to 4 meters. This range combined with the width
of the antenna beam provides a spacial resolution, which is
much worse than the resolution of the passive system described
above. The resonant structure of the antenna (Fig. 3) limits
the useful bandwidth to 400 MHz, which makes this type of
antenna inapplicaple for passive radiometric systems, where
high bandwidth is a crucial factor. In a radar based system
Fig. 9. Image of the FMCW radar scanner mounted on a positioner.
this bandwidth allows to discriminate the scene in range with
a resolution of approximately 37 cm. In combination with a
scanning system a 3-dimensional image of the target can be
created.
Figure 10 shows the radar images of two men and a dummy
created using the radar based security scanner. The comparison
of these results with images generated using a passive scanner
demonstrates, that both systems point out different properties
of the measured target. It is planned to combine the passive
and active approaches in order to detect more details about
the test object in order to increase the reliability of security
applications.
However, investigations of the detectability of metallic
objects by means of the active radar scanner revealed that this
system in stand-alone mode does not match the requirements
of concealed weapon detection. The first reason for this is that
the surface of most weapons, like knifes and guns, consist
of a small set of flat metal facets. The dominant type of
scattering on flat surfaces is specular reflexion, therefore these
objects can only be detected, if one of the illuminated surfaces
is perpendicular to the radar line of sight. Certainly, under
convenient conditions the radar will see a flash of the metal
object, but this is not enough for a reliable detection. This
shortcoming can be fixed by application of several radar
sensors in a bi- or multistatic configuration, which would
significantly increase the probability of detection. Figure 11
shows images of an unarmed man and a man with a gun on
his chest. The position of the gun is marked with a red circle.
Although the weapon was not covered by clothing, the radar
image gives no clue about it, while the passive scanner usually
shows even the shape of the gun.
Moreover, the detection of concealed weapons by means
of a radar scanner is complicated because of the different
scattering and absorption properties of fabric. While woolen
clothes are nearly transparent in the millimeterwave range,
heavy cotton can cause strong specular scattering itself, which
 multistatic configuration. For the future it is also planned
to introduce fully polarimetric methods, which are likely to
allow a discrimination between different types of scattering
and acting as a polarimetric filter for reflections from the
surface of the fabric and from underneath.
R EFERENCES
[1] M. Schlechtweg, A. Tessmann, A. Leuther, C. Schwörer, H. Massler,
M. Mikulla, M. Walther, R. Lösch, Advanced Millimeter-Wave ICs
Using Metamorphic HEMT Technology, 32nd International Symposium
on Compound Semiconductors (ISCS05), September 2005.
[2] A. Tessmann, S. Kudszus, T. Feltgen, M. Riessle, C. Sklarczyk,
W.H. Haydl, Compact Single-Chip W-Band FMCW Radar Modules for
Commercial High-Resolution Sensor Applications, IEEE Transactions on
Microwave Theory and Techniques 50 (2002), 2995.
(a) (b) [3] Waveband Corporation, Van Ness Ave, Suite 1105, Torrance, CA 90501,
info@waveband.com
Fig. 10. Images of two men (a) and a dummy (b) generated using a 94 GHz [4] J. Huck, Personenscanner, Diploma Thesis, Fachhochschule Koblenz,
FMCW radar scanner. Koblenz, June 2005.
[5] S. Erukulla, Design and Optimisation of Millimetrewave Sensors for
Security Imaging, Master’s Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology,
Göteborg, February 2006.

(a) (b)
Fig. 11. Images of an unarmed man (a) and a man with gun (b). The position
of the gun is marked with a red circle.

disturbes the image and leads to a masking of reflections from

metallic objects. Under certain conditions even the wrinkles
of the clothing can act as small scattering centers. In order to
understand all these phenomena further investigations on this
field are necessary.

IV. R ESULTS
Two approaches for concealed weapon detection were
tested, one using a radiometer, the other employing a miniature
FMCW radar. The passive system delivers encouraging results
with good image quality, at rather long scanning times. It
was shown that indoor use is feasible passively and can be
enhanced by artificial illumination sources. The active sensor
offers higher scanning speed and works indepentend of the
ambient temperature.
Due to the monostatic geometry, which is in favour of
specular reflections even from fabric, depending on its type, it
is much more difficult to detect and image concealed metallic
objects using an active scanning system. The probability of
detection can be improved using several radar sensors in a