A Superstrate-Loaded Conformal Array Antenna with Subarray-Augmented Imaging Algorithm for Microwave Brain Hemorrhage Diagnostic Systems

This letter presents a conformal microstrip array antenna and an associated imaging algorithm for microwave brain hemorrhage diagnostic systems. Each antenna element utilizes a substrate-superstrate stacked structure to achieve miniaturized dimensions, good impedance match, and suppression of lateral energy emission (caused by surface waves). Then, a Subarray-Augmented Born Iterative Method (SA-BIM) is developed to improve the imaging accuracy. To validate the proposed antenna and imaging algorithm, a simplified single-tissue 2D head prototype was fabricated and measured. Experimental results show that the proposed imaging algorithm achieves a low mean squared error of 0.062 and a high structural similarity index of 0.696, indicating over 60% enhancement in contrast and fidelity compared to traditional BIM. The reconstructed images accurately identify the target (simulated as hemorrhagic lesions) locations within the head phantom, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed antenna and imaging algorithm.