Breast Cancer Detection by Time-Reversal Imaging Using Ultra-Wideband Modified Circular Patch Antenna Array

In this paper, microwave time-reversal imaging based on a modified design of a circular patch antenna has been introduced. The proposed antenna operates over the ultra-wideband frequency range of 3.7-13.7 GHz with the high fidelity factor. The improvement of the impedance bandwidth is achieved by applying the circular slots on the edge of the antenna structure. The pattern and the return loss measurements of the constructed antenna validate the accuracy of the simulation results. The imaging operation has been conducted with a 12-elements antenna array around a malignant breast tissue. In order to detect the location of the tumor, the DORT (decomposition of time reversal operator) and the TR-MUSIC (time-reversal multiple signal classification) algorithms are applied. The effectiveness of the two algorithms for the imaging system consisting of the proposed antenna array is compared. Moreover, the microwave images of two similar tumors embedded inside the tissue are simulated and the achieved results based on the two mentioned algorithms are presented.