Microwave imaging via space-time beamforming: experimental investigation of tumor detection in multilayer breast phantoms

Microwave imaging via space-time (MIST) beamforming has been proposed recently for detecting small malignant breast tumors. In this paper, we extend the previously presented two-dimensional space-time beamformer design to three-dimensional (3-D), and demonstrate its efficacy using experimental data obtained with a multilayer breast phantom. The breast phantom consists of a homogeneous normal breast tissue simulant covered by a thin layer of skin simulant. A small synthetic malignant tumor is embedded in the breast phantom. We have developed several tumor simulants that yield the range of dielectric contrasts between normal and malignant tissue that are expected in clinical scenarios. A microwave sensor comprised of a synthetic planar array of compact ultrawide-band (UWB) antennas is immersed in a coupling medium above the breast tissue phantom. At each position in the array, the antenna transmits a synthetically generated pulse (1-11 GHz) into the phantom. The received backscatter signals are processed by a data-adaptive algorithm that removes the artifact caused by antenna reverberation and backscatter from the skin-breast interface, followed by 3-D space-time beamforming to image backscattered energy as a function of location. Our investigation includes a numerical (finite difference time domain) and experimental study of the UWB antenna performance in the immersion medium, as well as a study of the influence of malignant-to-normal breast tissue dielectric contrast on dynamic range requirements and tumor detectability. This paper represents the first experimental demonstration of 3-D MIST beamforming in multilayer breast phantoms with malignant-to-normal dielectric contrasts down to 1.5 : 1 for a 4-mm synthetic tumor.