Breast Tumor Microwave Simulator Based on a Radar Signal Model

Breast cancer incidence in women has increased from one in twenty in 1960 to one in eight today. Although advances have improved the likelihood of early detection, current breast imaging modalities still have limitations. In recent years, microwave imaging has shown its potential as an alternative approach for breast cancer detection. The principle behind this approach is the detection of differences in electrical characteristics between normal and malignant breast tissues in the microwave frequency range. A novel simulation technique for radar breast microwave imagery is proposed in this paper. Dispersive effects in the propagation medium and different antenna radiation pattern sizes are included in the simulation model. The proposed method produced accurate results when compared to real data collected from a phantom that mimics the average differences in dielectric properties from skin, breast, and malignant tissue