Compact planar UWB antenna array for breast cancer detection

A compact planar ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna array was developed for radar-based breast cancer detection system in the supine position. The size of the antenna element was 11 mm × 13.1 mm. A 4×4 antenna array size was 44 mm × 52.4 mm. The bandwidth and the center frequency of the antenna were 12.5 GHz and 6 GHz, respectively. The permittivity and conductivity of the human breast tumor were measured and the phantom materials were selected to fit the characteristics of the human breast tissues. Confocal imaging was carried out using the phantom. It was confirmed that the compact antenna array for breast cancer detection could resolve the two separate tumor phantoms which were located at the depth of 20 mm with the separation distance of 20 mm.