Patent ID: 8068049

Claim:
A passive detection apparatus comprising: a plurality of antenna elements arranged in an array, each antenna element receptive to radiation in the millimeter or sub-millimeter wavebands; a receiver system responsive to said elements, and further comprising a digital beamformer, a processor and an indicator, the receiver system adapted to receive and digitise radiometric emissions from a target, and the beamformer adapted to receive digital information from the receiver system and to pass information to the processor, wherein the beamformer is further adapted to process the received information to focus upon a near field region of the antenna array, the processor being interconnected to the beamformer and adapted to periodically generate static image information in at least a primary axis of the apparatus in real time or near-real time, and wherein the indicator is adapted to provide an indication based upon the generated static image information, wherein the beamformer is adapted to process the received information and focus at a plurality of ranges, each of said ranges is a different distance from the antenna, and to pass information relating to the plurality of ranges to the processor.