Performance comparison of directional and omnidirectional ultra-wideband antennas in near-field microwave head imaging systems

The objective of this paper is to study the effect and suitability of directionality in near-field microwave head imaging system. To that end, the near-field performances of directional and omnidirectional antennas are compared. The imaging performance comparison is carried out through experimental validation of a realistic artificial head phantom with an emulated brain injury. The results conclude that the directional antenna yields more focused images with low artifacts than the omnidirectional antenna.