Design of a microwave breast imaging array composed of dual-band miniaturized antennas

We present a compact dual-band patch antenna array designed for use in a 3-D microwave tomography system for breast imaging. The array is designed for operation within the interstitial space of an MRI patient support platform. This configuration permits scattered-field data acquisition with the breast in the same position as a benchmark MRI scan, thereby enabling precise co-registration with breast MRI. We investigate operating characteristics of the antenna array elements contained in the array using numerical simulations. We demonstrate that dual-band operation of the array is maintained in the presence of an ellipsoidal breast phantom.