Analysis of Thickness Variation in Biological Tissues Using Microwave Sensors for Health Monitoring Applications

The microwave sensing technique is a possible and attractive alternative modality to standard X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging, and computed tomography methods for medical diagnostic applications. This technique is beneficial since it uses non-ionizing radiation and that can be potentially used for the microwave healthcare system. The main purpose of this paper is to present a microwave sensing technique to analyze the variations in biological tissue thickness, considering the effects of physiological and biological properties on microwave signals. In order to fulfill this goal, we have developed a two-port non-invasive sensor system composed of two split ring resonators (SRRs) operating at an Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) frequency band of 2.45 GHz. The system is verified using the amplitude and phase of the transmitted signal in ex-vivo models, representing different tissue thicknesses. Clinical applications such as the diagnosis of muscular atrophy can be benefitted from this study.