Centre of Advanced Electronic and Communication Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia.
Sensors (Basel). 2018 Sep 5;18(9):2962. doi: 10.3390/s18092962.
Microwave breast imaging has been reported as having the most potential to become an alternative or additional tool to the existing X-ray mammography technique for detecting breast tumors. Microwave antenna sensor performance plays a significant role in microwave imaging system applications because the image quality is mostly affected by the microwave antenna sensor array properties like the number of antenna sensors in the array and the size of the antenna sensors. In this paper, a new system for successful early detection of a breast tumor using a balanced slotted antipodal Vivaldi Antenna (BSAVA) sensor is presented. The designed antenna sensor has an overall dimension of 0.401λ × 0.401λ × 0.016λ at the first resonant frequency and operates between 3.01 to 11 GHz under 10 dB. The radiating fins are modified by etching three slots on both fins which increases the operating bandwidth, directionality of radiation pattern, gain and efficiency. The antenna sensor performance of both the frequency domain and time domain scenarios and high-fidelity factor with NFD is also investigated. The antenna sensor can send and receive short electromagnetic pulses in the near field with low loss, little distortion and highly directionality. A realistic homogenous breast phantom is fabricated, and a breast phantom measurement system is developed where a two antennas sensor is placed on the breast model rotated by a mechanical scanner. The tumor response was investigated by analyzing the backscattering signals and successful image construction proves that the proposed microwave antenna sensor can be a suitable candidate for a high-resolution microwave breast imaging system.
微波乳腺成像被认为最有潜力成为现有 X 射线乳腺摄影技术的替代或补充工具,用于检测乳腺肿瘤。微波天线传感器性能在微波成像系统应用中起着重要作用,因为图像质量主要受微波天线传感器阵列的特性影响,如阵列中的天线传感器数量和天线传感器的大小。在本文中,提出了一种使用平衡缝隙反接 Vivaldi 天线(BSAVA)传感器成功进行早期乳腺癌检测的新系统。设计的天线传感器在第一个谐振频率下的总尺寸为 0.401λ×0.401λ×0.016λ,工作频率在 3.01GHz 到 11GHz 之间,回波损耗为 10dB。辐射鳍通过在两个鳍上蚀刻三个缝隙进行修改,从而增加了工作带宽、辐射方向图的方向性、增益和效率。还研究了天线传感器在频域和时域场景中的性能以及与 NFD 的高保真因数。天线传感器可以在近场中发送和接收短电磁脉冲,具有低损耗、小失真和高方向性。制作了一个逼真的均匀乳腺仿体,并开发了一个乳腺仿体测量系统,其中两个天线传感器放置在旋转的机械扫描仪上的乳腺模型上。通过分析反向散射信号研究了肿瘤的响应,并成功构建了图像,证明了所提出的微波天线传感器可以成为高分辨率微波乳腺成像系统的合适候选者。