Reconfigurable Stepped Frequency Continuous Wave Radar Prototype for Smuggling Contrast, Preliminary Assessment

A reconfigurable Stepped Frequency Continuous Wave (SFCW) radar prototype for supporting the italian financial police to contrast smuggling, is proposed in this work. In particular, the proposed radar can provide information related to the container contents and the presence of false bottoms speeding up the control operations at borders and ports. Moreover, it is able to reveal the presence of people hidden behind reinforced concrete hiding places. Radar resolution is improved by using suitable post-processing method such as the Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm. Numerical as well as experimental results obtained considering realistic operative scenarios demonstrated the potentialities and capabilities of this system as an effective tool for smuggling contrast. The preliminary experimental results have been obtained using a compact radar prototype equipped with high gain and directivity antennas to cover all the different frequency bands.