Microwave Imaging for Breast Tumor Detection Using Uniplanar AMC Based CPW-Fed Microstrip Antenna

A novel, low cost, and comprehensive microwave imaging (MWI) system is presented for the detection of unwanted tumorous cells into the human breast. A compact metamaterials (MTM) artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) surface-inspired coplanar waveguide fed (CPW-fed) microstrip antenna is developed for MWI applications. The initial wideband CPW antenna is designed by the modified oval shape patch and half cycle copper stripe line ground. The antenna is incorporated with two layers uniplanar AMC structure which is composed of a 5\times 5 array of square modified split ring resonator unit cells to obtain the desired antenna characteristics for the MWI applications like breast imaging. The metamaterial-based AMC structure improves the gain about 5 dB and produces stronger directive radiation characteristics. The enhancement of CPW performance proofs the effectiveness of the double layer MTM-AMC structure and its suitability for MWI. A microcontroller-based PC controlled alternative mechanical imaging system is designed to collect the scattering signal from the CPW-fed antenna. The changes of reflection and transmission coefficient with the variation of dielectric content into the breast phantom structure are analyzed. The remarkable deviation of scattered field is processed by image processing program using Matlab. By using these AMC inspired CPW-fed antenna based microwave imaging, the system can clearly detect the tumor inside the breast phantom.