Numerical study of propagation of EM waves through human head

Shortening the time between the onset of stroke and its detection/classification is extremely important for increasing the success of its treatment. Microwave imaging (MWI) represents one of the possible means that could allow such a shortening in near future. At the ELEDIA@CTU laboratory in Prague, a prototype of MW imaging system was developed, which was tested on a homogeneous human head phantom with a stroke phantom. Currently a new generation of the MWI system with more realistic human head phantom is being developed. Magnitudes of the transmission coefficient between antennas of the future system determine the electrical properties of the suitable microwave switching matrix. In this paper, numerical simulations in COMSOL Multiphysics are conducted to obtain information on the levels of amplitudes of transmission coefficients. Numerical transmission coefficient simulations were performed firstly for the 1D model of the human head, which from our point of view represents the highest theoretical limit of the transmission coefficient magnitudes. These simulations are followed by 2D and finally 3D models. The higher the number of the dimensions the lower magnitudes of the transmission coefficients were observed.