Microwave Radar-Based Differential Breast Cancer Imaging: Imaging in Homogeneous Breast Phantoms and Low Contrast Scenarios

Abstract

This paper presents an improved antenna array for radar-based breast cancer imaging. The improvement was achieved by increasing the number of antennas in the array to 31 elements, as well as by improving the antenna design itself. Using an experimental setup, with homogeneous curved breast phantoms, we have demonstrated substantial imaging improvement with the new antenna array. The new system is also able to detect 7 mm-diameter tumor phantoms in any location within the breast, even as close as 4 mm from the skin layer. Additionally, we have shown good imaging results in low-contrast scenarios, where the dielectric contrast between tumor and normal tissue was reduced to 2:1. Presented results clearly demonstrate the large impact of antenna's characteristics on imaging performance.