Design and Optimization of a Slotted Monopole Antenna for Ultra-Wide Band Body Centric Imaging Applications

This paper presents a cost-efficient design, optimization and physical implementation of a compact slotted ultra-wideband (UWB) monopole antenna for body-centric imaging applications. The proposed antenna is initially modelled and designed with the aid of commercial software (CST-Microwave Studio). To ensure that the proposed design is meeting the required specifications with reduced design time, the parallel surrogate model-assisted hybrid differential evolution for antenna optimization (PSADEA) is proposed to optimize the design. Based on the best set of geometry parameters for the optimum antenna performance, the antenna prototype is realized on an FR-4 substrate and analyzed in terms of bandwidth, gain, efficiency, and radiation pattern with and without the tissue models. All measured results are found to be in good agreement with the simulated results. The antenna provides a good reflection coefficient (S11 <; -10 dB) in the UWB frequency band from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz and maintains its bandwidth UWB operation without detuning when placed in closed contact with the human body or breast mimicking tissues (phantoms).