A single antenna based microwave system for breast cancer detection: Experimental results

In this paper, a single Ultra-wide Band (UWB) antenna based microwave imaging system for breast cancer detection is presented. In contrast to other breast cancer detection systems such as multi-static radar, the system presented here is only based on a single Vivaldi antenna, to collect signals by scanning a cancerous breast phantom. These collected signals contain cancerous tissue information, which are then post-processed to create a microwave image of the breast, with the tumour highlighted. To gain insight into the performance of this microwave system, numerical experimental results are measured using a gelatin-oil technology based realistic cancerous breast phantom, with simulated results being compared to demonstrate the suitability of this microwave imaging system for breast cancer detection.