The MINC team is developing new Millimeter-wave Radar imaging systems in the following areas:

Internet of Things

Millimeter-wave Radar imaging systems are developed by our team for the remote detection, identification and reading of passive (without DC power) and chipless (without integrated circuits) sensors for the wireless measurement of physical quantities, such as temperature or pressure, in harsh environments with high temperatures, high pressures and/or radioactivity.

[D. Henry, T. Marchal, J. Philippe, P. Pons, H. Aubert, “Classification of Radar Echoes for Identification and Remote Reading of Chipless Millimeter-wave Sensors,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 69, Issue 1, pp. 926-937, January 2021]

We are also developing polarimetric Radar image processing techniques to interrogate these sensors at ranges of several tens of meters.

[D. Henry, A.- El Sayed Ahmad, A. H. Djilani, P. Pons, H. Aubert, “Wireless Reading and Localization of Additively Manufactured Galinstan-based Sensor using a Polarimetric Millimeter-wave Radar Imaging Technique,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, July 2023]

Ethologie

Millimeter-wave Radar imaging systems are developed by our team for the individualized monitoring of the movement of animals under experimental and livestock conditions or in the natural environment. These Radar systems could indeed be advantageously used to address scientific issues related to individual movements and social interactions of animals. We have shown that these systems may estimate the trajectory of bumblebees to analyze their pollination activity or they can be used to study the movements of animals in livestock conditions in order to study the social attraction and cohesion of these animals.

[D. Henry, J. Bailly, Y. Labrune, T. Pasquereau, W. Hebrard, H. Aubert, L. Canario, “Monitoring of Sow Postural Activity from 3D Millimeter-Wave Radar Imaging,” Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Volume 213, 108214, October 2023]

Precision viticulture

Millimeter-wave Radar imaging systems are developed by our team to estimate the yield of a vineyard plot before harvest. This estimation is valuable for winemakers, because it makes it possible to carry out thinning as soon as possible, to anticipate human resources and the rental of equipment for the harvest and finally, to be able to be compensated at best in case of losses due to bad weather. The research team is working on versions of vehicle-based Radar imaging systems to analyze very large vineyard plots with multiple varieties, ensuring that the measurement times are compatible with industrial constraints.

[D. Henry, H. Aubert, P. Galaup, T. Veronese, “Dynamic Estimation of the Yield in Precision Viticulture from Mobile Millimeter-Wave Radar Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 60, December 2021]

Wireless systems for the characterization of shock waves

The research work on wireless systems for the characterization of shock waves takes place in the Laboratoire sur l’Instrumentation et les Capteurs Ultra-Rapides (LICUR). The wireless system proposed for the study of the shock wave generated during an explosive event should improve by a factor of 2 to 5 the measurement accuracy of static overpressure compared to the state of the art.

[M. Chalnot, et al., “Wireless Transmission of Friedlander-type Signals for the Dynamic Measurement of Blast Pressure,” Propellants, Explosive, Pyrotechnics, Vol. 46, Issue 4, Pages 563-57, April 2021.]

In addition, a millimeter-wave (94 GHz) interferometric system is used to remotely estimate the shock wave velocity, particle velocity and refractive index of shocked dielectric materials.

[J. Mapas, et al., “Shock properties characterization of dielectric materials using millimeter-wave interferometry and convolutional neural networks,” Sensors 2023, 23(10), 4835.]

Contact: Hervé AUBERT