Design, simulation and experimental study of near-field beam forming techniques using conformal waveguide arrays

Microwave hyperthermia is rapidly evolving as a fourth modality in the fight against cancer, along with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. This form of cancer treatment utilises a narrow microwave beam to heat the tumour volume to a temperature of ~42??C; however, with minimal energy delivery to neighbouring healthy tissue, which is one of the main challenges in hyperthermia technology. Potentially, this application can be achieved by using a phased array of apertures or dipoles to generate and control the beam focus within the near-field treatment region. This paper describes another approach to near-field beam forming by using of a conformal waveguide array, operating in the K band (18-26 GHz). The array comprises a central movable element that acts as the focusing element, and surrounding fixed directing elements. The focusing element gives conformal property to the array and serves two purposes: firstly to obtain a sharp focus at a prescribed near-field location, and secondly the added flexibility to move the beam around the tumour. Several simulations and measurements have been performed on linear and planar configurations, which demonstrate the ability of the array to achieve beam widths as small as ~4 mm, with a maximum beam movement range of ~15 mm.