Metasurface Tiles on Conformable Origami Platforms for Adaptive and Sparse Computational Microwave Imaging

This article presents a computational imaging technique by making an interesting connection between two design methodologies namely, origami based shape morphing platforms and metasurfaces. Reconfigurable origami platforms mounted with cavity-backed metasurface antennas have been employed to demonstrate stand-off sparse computational imaging at mi-crowave frequencies (17 - 27 GHz). We use these apertures to perform diffraction-limited RF image reconstructions of 2D and 3D stand-off targets. Such modular, low-cost, conformable aperture find application in remote sensing, stand-off security imagers at checkpoints, automotive radars, and biomedical imaging. We also demonstrate scene adaptive imaging where different origami morphology helps to improve different aspects of imaging metrics like signal-to-noise ratio, cross-range resolution, spatial diversity, and field-of-view.