The surface of a fluidized bed combustor may be indicative of problems, such as agglomeration, occurring within the bed material. The imaging system described in this dissertation has the potential of becoming a diagnostic tool to serve this purpose. The goal of this project was to design and evaluate a radar-based, phased-array system for capturing the surface contours of static surfaces located short distances (approximately 8 ft.) from the antenna array;The energy source for the contour mapping system was a frequency modulated, continuous wave (FMCW) radar. Since the frequency of a demodulated FCMW signal is proportional to the distance to the target, the dominant frequency component of the output from the beamforming algorithm is an estimate of the distance to the surface;This dissertation describes the equipment arrangement, the noise removal methods, and the delay and sum beamforming algorithm. In addition, results for several different surface types and structures are presented and discussed. Since it is shown that this prototype system has limitations, recommendations for future modifications are also suggested
