Transverse Electric Inverse Scattering of Conductors Using Artificial Intelligence

Sensors are devices that can detect changes in the external environment and convert them into signals. They are widely used in fields like industrial automation, smart homes, medical devices, automotive electronics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), enabling real-time data collection to enhance system intelligence and efficiency. With advancements in technology, sensors are evolving toward miniaturization, high sensitivity, and multifunctional integration. This paper employs the Direct Sampling Method (DSM) and neural networks to reconstruct the shape of perfect electric conductors from the sensed electromagnetic field. Transverse electric (TE) electromagnetic waves are transmitted to illuminate the conductor. The scattered fields in the x- and y-directions are measured by sensors and used in the method of moments for forward scattering calculations, followed by the DSM for initial shape reconstruction. The preliminary shape data obtained from the DSM are then fed into a U-net for further training. Since the training parameters of deep learning significantly affect the reconstruction results, extensive tests are conducted to determine optimal parameters. Finally, the trained neural network model is used to reconstruct TE images based on the scattered fields in the x- and y-directions. Owing to the intrinsic strong nonlinearity in TE waves, different regularization factors are applied to improve imaging quality and reduce reconstruction errors after integrating the neural network. Numerical results show that compared to using the DSM alone, combining the DSM with a neural network enables the generation of high-resolution images with enhanced efficiency and superior generalization capability. In addition, the error rate has decreased to below 15%.