Low-Cost Antenna-Array-Based Metamaterials for Non-Invasive Early-Stage Breast Tumor Detection in the Human Body

• Published in: Biosensors (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 10; p. 828
• Main Authors: Hamza, Musa N, Abdulkarim, Yadgar I, Saeed, Salah Raza, Altıntaş, Olcay, Mahmud, Rashad H, Appasani, Bhargav, Ravariu, Cristian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-10-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: antenna; Antenna arrays; Antennas; artificial magnetic conductor (AMC); Biosensors; Breast cancer; breast tumor microwave imaging (MWI); Breast tumors; Conductors; Design; Design and construction; Diagnosis; Diagnosis, Noninvasive; Frequencies; Frequency dependence; Frequency ranges; Low cost; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mammography; Materials; Medical imaging equipment; Medical screening; Metamaterials; Methods; Microstrip antennas; Microwave devices; Microwave imaging; Patch antennas; Permeability; Radiation; Selectivity; Simulation; Skin cancer; Tumors; Ultrasonic imaging; Iraq; United States > US
• ISSN: 2079-6374; 2079-6374
• DOI: 10.3390/bios12100828

Microstrip patch antennas have been used in many applications since their appearance. Despite their great promise, their narrow bandwidth and the loss at high-frequency bands have limited their usage in medical applications. This work proposes a developed low-cost microstrip patch antenna suitable for microwave imaging (MWI) applications within the wideband frequency range. The proposed antenna is loaded with an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) to improve the antenna performance. The simulated results obtained using computer simulation technology (CST) indicate that the presence of the AMC has improved the frequency selectivity of the antenna at 8.6 GHz with a peak realized gain of 9.90443 dBi and 10.61 dBi for simulated and measured results, respectively. The proposed microstrip antenna has been fabricated to validate the simulated results, and its performance is tested experimentally. Additionally, the fidelity factor of face-to-face (FtF) and side-by-side (SbS) scenarios have been presented. The breast phantom models with a tumor and the antenna operating as a transceiver have been numerically simulated for the application of cancer tumor cell detection. The work will have a significant impact on the design of electromagnetic biosensors.