US 12,461,230 B2
Method and system for surface wear inspection using millimeter wave radar
Amit Swain, Kolkata (IN); Anwesha Khasnobish, Kolkata (IN); Smriti Rani, Kolkata (IN); Chirabrata Bhaumik, Kolkata (IN); and Tapas Chakravarty, Kolkata (IN)
Assigned to TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED, Mumbai (IN)
Filed by Tata Consultancy Services Limited, Mumbai (IN)
Filed on Sep. 29, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/374,809.
Claims priority of application No. 202221057044 (IN), filed on Oct. 4, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0118413 A1, Apr. 11, 2024
Int. Cl. G01S 13/90 (2006.01); G01S 7/41 (2006.01)
CPC G01S 13/9023 (2013.01) [G01S 7/417 (2013.01); G01S 13/9011 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A processor implemented method, the method comprising:
receiving, by one or more hardware processors, a plurality of uncompressed raw Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images pertaining to a surface under test, wherein the plurality of uncompressed raw SAR images comprises a first plurality of raw SAR images captured sequentially from a plurality of vantage points in a single pass and a second plurality of raw SAR images captured sequentially from the plurality of vantage points in a repeat pass;
generating, by the one or more hardware processors, a plurality of reconstructed SAR images based on the plurality of uncompressed raw SAR images using a variable focusing based Range Doppler Algorithm (RDA); and
examining, by the one or more hardware processors, each of the plurality of reconstructed SAR images by iteratively performing:
selecting a master image from a first plurality of reconstructed SAR images and a slave image from a second plurality of reconstructed SAR images, from among the plurality of reconstructed SAR images;
assigning a plurality of anchor points for the master image and a plurality of anchor points for the slave image, using a signal processing technique, wherein the plurality of anchor points are generated using a spread function;
computing a plurality of coarse level shift coordinates based on a difference between the plurality of anchor points corresponding to the master image and the plurality of anchor points corresponding to the slave image;
generating a plurality of pixel groups for the master image and a plurality of pixel groups for the slave image by extracting a pixel group surrounding each of the plurality of anchor points corresponding to the master image and the slave image using a pixel extraction technique;
generating a frequency domain representation of the plurality of pixel groups for the master image and a frequency domain representation of the plurality of pixel groups of the slave image by computing a 2D Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on the corresponding plurality of pixel groups;
obtaining a plurality of over-sampled pixel groups for the master image and a plurality of over-sampled pixel groups for the slave image based on the corresponding frequency domain representation using zero padding;
generating a spatial domain representation of the plurality of over-sampled pixel groups for the master image and a spatial domain representation of the plurality of over-sampled pixel groups for the slave image by computing an Inverse FFT (IFFT) on the plurality of over-sampled pixel groups corresponding to the master image and the slave image;
identifying a deformation information associated with each of the plurality of pixel groups for the master image and a deformation information associated with each of the plurality of pixel groups for the slave image based on the corresponding spatial domain representation using a spatial data analysis technique;
identifying a target pixel group for the master image and a target pixel group for the slave image based on the corresponding deformation information, wherein the pixel group having maximum deformation information is selected as the target pixel group;
computing a plurality of fine level shift coordinates between the master image and the slave image based on a corresponding 2D cross-correlated target pixel groups using a sub-pixel level spatial shift computation technique;
estimating a net shift value based on the plurality of coarse level shift coordinates and the plurality of fine level shift coordinates using a statistical technique, wherein the master image and the slave image are aligned using the net shift value;
generating an interferogram based on the master image and a complex conjugate of the slave image using an interferogram generation technique; and
profiling a deformation pertaining to the surface under test based on color variations in the interferogram using an interferogram interpretation technique.