Flexible 16 Antenna Array for Microwave Breast Cancer Detection

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering Vol. 62; no. 10; pp. 2516 - 2525
• Main Authors: Bahramiabarghouei, Hadi, Porter, Emily, Santorelli, Adam, Gosselin, Benoit, Popovic, Milica, Rusch, Leslie A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.10.2015; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Antenna arrays; Antenna measurements; Arrays; Average Specific Absorption Rate (ASAR); Biological Tissues; Breast; Breast cancer; Breast Cancer Detection; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Diagnostic Imaging - instrumentation; Dual-Polarization; Electromagnetic radiation; Female; Flexible Antenna; Humans; Mammography; Microwave imaging; Microwaves - therapeutic use; Radar; Single-Polarization; Spirals; Wideband Antenna; Wireless Technology - instrumentation; Average specific absorption rate (ASAR); breast cancer detection; single polarization; flexible antenna; wideband antenna; biological tissues; dual-polarization
• ISSN: 0018-9294; 1558-2531; 1558-2531
• DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2015.2434956

Radar-based microwave imaging has been widely studied for breast cancer detection in recent times. Sensing dielectric property differences of tissues has been studied over a wide frequency band for this application. We design single- and dual-polarization antennas for wireless ultrawideband breast cancer detection systems using an inhomogeneous multilayer model of the human breast. Antennas made from flexible materials are more easily adapted to wearable applications. Miniaturized flexible monopole and spiral antennas on a 50-μm Kapton polyimide are designed, using a high-frequency structure simulator, to be in contact with biological breast tissues. The proposed antennas are designed to operate in a frequency range of 2-4 GHz (with reflection coefficient (S11) below -10 dB). Measurements show that the flexible antennas have good impedance matching when in different positions with different curvature around the breast. Our miniaturized flexible antennas are 20 mm × 20 mm. Furthermore, two flexible conformal 4 × 4 ultrawideband antenna arrays (single and dual polarization), in a format similar to that of a bra, were developed for a radar-based breast cancer detection system. By using a reflector for the arrays, the penetration of the propagated electromagnetic waves from the antennas into the breast can be improved by factors of 3.3 and 2.6, respectively.