Low-cost device for breast cancer screening: A dry setup IR-UWB proposal

This paper presents a dry-setup microwave imaging apparatus proposal aiming at breast cancer detection, seeking low-cost and portability. In 2020, breast cancer overtook lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed worldwide, and its impact on low-income countries has encouraged the development of non-invasive and affordable screening equipment; its use could reduce mortality rates by scaling up early detection reach. A US$ 150.00 microwave transceiver platform with embedded antennas was employed to maintain costs down, while a dry-coupling silicone rubber bra was used to keep the device portable. Firstly, a front-end power loss study and simulations by utilizing a finite integration technique software were carried out to analyse the proposed hardware power ability to detect tumours depth in the breast. Secondly, microwave signals were transmitted, illuminating a developed phantom that mimics the dielectric properties of breast tissues. The resulting images were generated by applying collected backscattered signals to a delay and sum algorithm whereby improvements were implemented aiming at enhancing tumour contrast. Simulated and experimental results employing the system proposed and the phantom presented signal to clutter and signal to mean ratio above 6.0 dB and 22.0 dB, respectively, and average tumour location precision of 0.5 cm. The results demonstrated the proposed apparatus potential to prospect a low-cost and portable system for first approach breast cancer screening. Although more investigations and additional implementations are still necessary for conducting clinical trials, the proposals presented have paved the way to a resource-limited screening equipment development in the future. [Display omitted] •Microwave imaging systems have potential low-cost and portability features.•An apparatus employing a low-cost and portable time-domain platform was proposed.•Frequencies higher than 3.0 GHz reduce RCS losses in microwave imaging.•Spreading and material propagation losses are critical for frequencies over 7.0 GHz.•The system detected a 1.0 cm tumour, buried at 3.0 cm depth into a phantom breast.