Tech Briefs Magazine - April 2022 - 37

Imaging
Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar
The high-bandwidth, high-resolution ISAR technology can be used to study subsurface structures.
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
N
ASA Goddard developed a compact,
lightweight, low-frequency (25~100
MHz), wideband (75 MHz), subsurface
imaging Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar
(ISAR) and associated post-processing
software. The software processes
data received by the ISAR radar to extract
down- and cross-range images of
the target object.
Use of low frequencies allows the electromagnetic
energy to penetrate to a
greater depth, enabling observation of
the interior of a solid object to a higher
resolution than can be achieved with
al ter nate technologies. Higher bandwidth
has been used in earlier ISAR systems;
however, these require expensive
high-bandwidth RF components and
higher-speed data processing units.
The new ISAR system uses a novel step
frequency technique that eliminates both
these requirements. The step frequency
approach keeps the local bandwidth very
small, enabling data processing at much
lower speed. By stepping through the frequencies,
the ISAR achieves much higher
overall bandwidth and consequently
very high range resolution.
The system enables scientists and
geologists to image 3D interior strucFlexible
Imaging Device
3D micro-printing was used to develop this small, flexible scope for looking inside blood vessels.
University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia and University of Stuttgart, Germany
R
esearchers have developed a camera-like
imaging device that can be
inserted into blood vessels to provide
high-quality 3D images to help scientists
better understand the causes of heart
attack and heart disease progression
and could lead to improved treatment
and prevention.
The team was able to 3D print a tiny
lens onto the end of an optical fiber that
is the thickness of a human hair. The imaging
device is so small that re searchers
were able to scan inside the blood vessels
of mice.
Preclinical and clinical diagnostics increasingly
rely on visualizing the structure
of the blood vessels to better understand
the disease. Miniaturized
ture of a solid object to a depth of up
to tens of meters. The system also features
wide bandwidth, providing higher
resolution than previous technologies,
such as conventional pulse ground penetrating
radar, for analysis of thin-layer
pavements and geological subsurface
structures.
NASA is actively seeking licensees to commercialize
this technology. Please contact NASA's
Licensing Concierge at Agency-PatentLicensing@mail.nasa.gov
or call us at 202358-7432
to initiate licensing discussions. Follow
this link for more information: https://
technology.nasa.gov/patent/GSC-TOPS-120.
endoscopes,
which act like tiny cameras, allow doctors
to see how plaques form in blood vessels
and explore new ways to treat them.
Using 3D micro-printing, the team was
able to print complicated lenses that are
too small to see with the naked eye. The
entire endoscope, with a protective plastic
casing, is less than half a millimeter across.
For more information, contact Dr. Jiawen Li
of the Adelaide Medical School at jiawen.li01@
adelaide.edu.au; +61 (0) 452 645 756.
Tech Briefs, April 2022
The ultrathin 3D-printed endoscope imaging an artery. (Photo: Simon Thiele and Jiawen Li)
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Tech Briefs Magazine - April 2022

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