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Gregory L. Charvat is author of Small and Short-Range Radar Systems, Co-Founder of Butterfly Network Inc, and advisor to the Camera Culture Group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Media Lab.
Charvat is best known for his through-wall radar imaging system [1] [2] and his project-based MIT short-course on radar, where each student builds their own radar system. [3] [4] This radar course has been adopted by numerous other universities and institutions. Charvat is also well known in the hacker and maker community for developing radar devices and imaging systems in his garage. [3] [5]
Charvat grew up in the metro Detroit area, where he would take apart old televisions & radios. He built amateur radio equipment in high school, a radio telescope for which he won second place at the 1997 International Science and Engineering Fair in Louisville, KY, and developed many radar sensors in college. He earned PhD (2007), [3] [6] MSc (2003), and BSc (2002) degrees in electrical engineering from Michigan State University. [3] He was a member of the technical staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory from Sept 2007 to Nov 2011, and has taught short radar courses at MIT where his ‘Build a Small Radar Sensor...’ course was top-ranked MIT Professional Education course in 2011. [3] [7]
Charvat has authored or co-authored numerous journals, proceedings, magazine articles, and seminars on topics including applied electromagnetics, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and phased array radar systems, radio frequency (RF) and analog design. He has developed numerous rail SAR imaging sensors, phased array radar systems, impulse radar systems and other radar sensors, and as well has designed his own amateur radio station. Charvat won best 2010 paper at the Military Sensing Symposia (MSS) Tri-Services Radar Symposium for his work on through wall radar. [1] For fun he develops vacuum tube audio equipment and restores antique radios and watches, among hobbies. [7] [8]
**Update March 27, 2014**
Recently, Gregory Charvat provided explanations of advanced sensing technologies that the general public could understand during a series of interviews on the missing Malaysian Flight 370 in March 2014:
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/flight-370-search-using-state-of-the-art-sonar-and-radar-tech/
http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2014/03/18/pmt-greg-charvat.cnn.html
Sky News Television on Sunday morning 3/23/14 (afternoon in UK).
Malaysia's local NPR-style radio station Business FM 89.9, on 3/24/14.
Newstalk1010 Moore in the Morning with John Moore (Toronto Canada) on 3/24/14
The Arlene Bynon Show on SiriusXM Canada on 3/18/14.
Gregory Charvat is also a contributing author to Hack-a-Day blog, writing on the subject of using small radar technology for your next project http://hackaday.com/2014/02/24/guest-post-try-radar-for-your-next-project/
and how Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging works: http://hackaday.com/2014/03/17/radar-imaging-in-your-garage-synthetic-aperture-radar/
Gregory L. Charvat is a visiting research scientist at MIT Media Lab.
Charvat is the Series Editor of the, "Modern and Practical Approaches to Electrical Engineering," book series. Author Albert Sabban published the most recent part in the series, "Low-Visibility Antennas for Communication Systems," on September 18, 2015.
Low-Visibility Antennas for Communication Systems is currently available for purchase here:
https://www.crcpress.com/Low-Visibility-Antennas-for-Communication-Systems/Sabban/9781482246438
Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter; with frequencies between 300 MHz (1 m) and 300 GHz (1 mm). Different sources define different frequency ranges as microwaves; the above broad definition includes both UHF and EHF bands. A more common definition in radio-frequency engineering is the range between 1 and 100 GHz. In all cases, microwaves include the entire SHF band at minimum. Frequencies in the microwave range are often referred to by their IEEE radar band designations: S, C, X, Ku, K, or Ka band, or by similar NATO or EU designations.
In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the antennas. In an array antenna, the radio frequency current from the transmitter is fed to the individual antennas with the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas add together to increase the radiation in a desired direction, while cancelling to suppress radiation in undesired directions. In a phased array, the power from the transmitter is fed to the antennas through devices called phase shifters, controlled by a computer system, which can alter the phase electronically, thus steering the beam of radio waves to a different direction. Since the array must consist of many small antennas to achieve high gain, phased arrays are mainly practical at the high frequency end of the radio spectrum, in the UHF and microwave bands, in which the antenna elements are conveniently small.
Ultra-wideband is a radio technology that can use a very low energy level for short-range, high-bandwidth communications over a large portion of the radio spectrum. UWB has traditional applications in non-cooperative radar imaging. Most recent applications target sensor data collection, precision locating and tracking applications.
Wireless power transfer (WPT), wireless power transmission, wireless energy transmission (WET), or electromagnetic power transfer is the transmission of electrical energy without wires as a physical link. In a wireless power transmission system, a transmitter device, driven by electric power from a power source, generates a time-varying electromagnetic field, which transmits power across space to a receiver device, which extracts power from the field and supplies it to an electrical load. The technology of wireless power transmission can eliminate the use of the wires and batteries, thus increasing the mobility, convenience, and safety of an electronic device for all users. Wireless power transfer is useful to power electrical devices where interconnecting wires are inconvenient, hazardous, or are not possible.
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. This nondestructive method uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band of the radio spectrum, and detects the reflected signals from subsurface structures. GPR can have applications in a variety of media, including rock, soil, ice, fresh water, pavements and structures. In the right conditions, practitioners can use GPR to detect subsurface objects, changes in material properties, and voids and cracks.
The Cecil and Ida Green Building, also called the Green Building or Building 54, is an academic and research building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States and houses the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. It was designed by Araldo Cossutta and I. M. Pei. Pei, among the world's most noted architects, had received his bachelor's degree from MIT in 1940. Principal donor Cecil Howard Green received a bachelor's degree and master's degree from MIT and was a co-founder of Texas Instruments.
A motion detector is an electrical device that utilizes a sensor to detect nearby motion. Such a device is often integrated as a component of a system that automatically performs a task or alerts a user of motion in an area. They form a vital component of security, automated lighting control, home control, energy efficiency, and other useful systems.
Haystack Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is located in Westford, Massachusetts (US), approximately 45 kilometers (28 mi) northwest of Boston. Haystack was initially built by MIT's Lincoln Laboratory for the United States Air Force and was known as Haystack Microwave Research Facility. Construction began in 1960, and the antenna began operating in 1964. In 1970 the facility was transferred to MIT, which then formed the Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation (NEROC) with a number of other universities to operate the site as the Haystack Observatory. As of January 2012, a total of nine institutions participated in NEROC.
The SCR-584 was an automatic-tracking microwave radar developed by the MIT Radiation Laboratory during World War II. It was one of the most advanced ground-based radars of its era, and became one of the primary gun laying radars used worldwide well into the 1950s. A trailer-mounted mobile version was the SCR-784.
Microwave transmission is the transmission of information by microwave radio waves. Although an experimental 40-mile (64 km) microwave telecommunication link across the English Channel was demonstrated in 1931, the development of radar in World War II provided the technology for practical exploitation of microwave communication. In the 1950s, large transcontinental microwave relay networks, consisting of chains of repeater stations linked by line-of-sight beams of microwaves were built in Europe and America to relay long distance telephone traffic and television programs between cities. Communication satellites which transferred data between ground stations by microwaves took over much long distance traffic in the 1960s. In recent years, there has been an explosive increase in use of the microwave spectrum by new telecommunication technologies such as wireless networks, and direct-broadcast satellites which broadcast television and radio directly into consumers' homes.
The Thing, also known as the Great Seal bug, was one of the first covert listening devices to use passive techniques to transmit an audio signal. It was concealed inside a gift given by the Soviet Union to W. Averell Harriman, the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union, on August 4, 1945. Because it was passive, needing electromagnetic energy from an outside source to become energized and activate, it is considered a predecessor of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology.
Building 20 was a temporary timber structure hastily erected during World War II on the central campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since it was always regarded as "temporary", it never received a formal name throughout its 55-year existence.
The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was a microwave and radar research laboratory located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (US). It was first created in October 1940 and operated until 31 December 1945 when its functions were dispersed to industry, other departments within MIT, and in 1951, the newly formed MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
Ali Hajimiri is an academic, inventor, and entrepreneur in various fields of technology including electrical engineering and biomedical engineering. He is currently the Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Walter Rotman was an American scientist known for his work in radar and antenna design. Among his inventions were the Rotman lens, the sandwich wire antenna, and the trough waveguide.
The first smart antennas were developed for military communications and intelligence gathering. The growth of cellular telephone in the 1980s attracted interest in commercial applications. The upgrade to digital radio technology in the mobile phone, indoor wireless network, and satellite broadcasting industries created new opportunities for smart antennas in the 1990s, culminating in the development of the MIMO technology used in 4G wireless networks.
Bio-radiolocation is a technology for remote detection and diagnostics of biological objects by means of radar, even behind optically opaque obstacles. Devices based on this method are called bio-radars.
Microwave imaging is a science which has been evolved from older detecting/locating techniques in order to evaluate hidden or embedded objects in a structure using electromagnetic (EM) waves in microwave regime. Engineering and application oriented microwave imaging for non-destructive testing is called microwave testing, see below.
Kamal Sarabandi is an Iranian-American scientist and Rufus S. Teesdale endowed Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he teaches and conducts research on the science and technology of microwave and millimeter wave radar remote sensing, wireless technology, electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering, metamaterials, antenna miniaturization, and nano antennas.
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. It researches, develops, and manufactures advanced technology products in the aerospace and defense industry, including aircraft engines, avionics, aerostructures, cybersecurity, missiles, air defense systems, and drones. The company is also a large military contractor, getting a significant portion of its revenue from the U.S. government. Former United Technologies CEO and chairman Gregory J. Hayes is the CEO of the combined company, and former Raytheon CEO and chairman Thomas A. Kennedy is the Executive Chairman.
9. Charvat, Gregory.(2015-10-23)."Time-of-Flight Microwave Camera" Scientific Reports 5, Article number: 14709 (2015). Retrieved 2015-11-23.
10. Venkratraman, Vijee. (2015-10-06). "A camera than can see through walls" The Boston Globe. MIT Media Lab. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
11. Ackerman, Evan. (2015-10-14). "MIT's 3-D Microwave Camera Can See Through Walls" Spectrum.ieee.org. Tech Talk. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
12. Muoio, Danielle. (2015-10-15). "This camera can see through walls and could help driverless cars navigate fog" Techinside.io. Tech Insider. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
13. Sorrel, Charlie. (2015-10-23). "MIT's New Microwave Camera Can See Through Walls" fastcoexist.com. Exist. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
14. Sabban, Albert. (2015-9-18). "Low-Visibility Antennas for Communication Systems." crcpress.com. CRC Net Base. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
V. Venkatraman, “A camera that can see through walls.” Beta Boston, the Boston Globe, October 6, 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
E. Ackerman, “MIT’s 3-D Microwave Camera Can See Through Walls.” IEEE Spectrum, October 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
D. Muoio, “This camera can see through walls and could help driverless cars navigate fog.” Tech Insider, October 15, 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
C. Sorrel, “MIT’s new microwave camera can see through walls.” Co.Exist, Fast Company, October 23, 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-23.