On the performance of a backscattering based tomographic imaging technique: some results for an actual case

The performance of a particular backscattering based tomographic imaging technique [1] is studied when applied to a body with finite-size non-homogeneous regions in its scattering strength density functions. In this paper, we examine a more realistic case than that considered in a previous paper [2] in which pointform scatterers inside a body were considered. The detection separation capabilities of the technique are studied with respect to the sizes of the non-homogenous regions, the scattering strength the themselves and the surroundings and, fina1ky, the S/N ratio of the backscattered signal. The difference in these performance parameters are shown for the case in which the image function I(x,y) is defined as the magnitude of the reconstructed scattering strength density function ?(x,y) and for the case where the definition I(x,y) = R{(?(x,y)}, with R {} operator "Rea1 part" is assumed.