Patent ID: 8854258

Claim:
A method of synthetic imaging comprising the steps of: emitting a first electromagnetic signal having a first frequency from a first radiation source having a first transmitting antenna; emitting at least one second electromagnetic signal having a second frequency from a second radiation source having a second transmitting antenna, wherein the first frequency and second frequency are different, and the first transmitting antenna and the second transmitting antenna are different; substantially simultaneously receiving the first signal and the second signal with a first receiver having a first receiving antenna; substantially simultaneously receiving the first signal and the second signal with at least one second receiver having a second receiving antenna, wherein the first receiving antenna and the second receiving antenna are different; arranging an object on a path of at least one electromagnetic signal between the radiation sources and the receivers, wherein the receiving of at least one of the first signal or the second signal with at least one of the first receiver or the second receiver includes the following steps: producing a single radio frequency signal, mixing the radio frequency signal in the first receiver with the first signal and the second signal, thereby generating a first set of receiver intermediate frequency signals, and mixing the radio frequency signal in the second receiver with the first signal and the second signal, thereby generating a second set of receiver intermediate frequency signals, communicating the first set of receiver intermediate frequency signals and the second set of receiver intermediate frequency signals to a computer, decomposing the first set of receiver intermediate frequency signals into first spectral frequency constituents with a first demultiplexer corresponding to the first receiver, and decomposing the second set of receiver intermediate frequency signals into second spectral frequency constituents with a second demultiplexer corresponding to the second receiver; and computing imaging data for the object from the first set of receiver intermediate frequency signals and the second set of receiver intermediate frequency signals received by the first receiver and the second receiver by way of a synthetic aperture algorithm.