Hardware acceleration of FDTD computations for 3-D microwave breast tomography

Microwave tomography is an area of ongoing research in the University of Wisconsin Computational Electromagnetics Laboratory (UWCEM). We image anatomically realistic, three-dimensional, numerical breast models using electromagnetic inverse scattering methods. The iterative approach requires a set of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) field solutions at each iteration. The size of the breast model and the spatial sampling density required to simulate UHF-band pulse-widths result in a significant engineering challenge with respect to timely completion of the imaging algorithm. In this paper we report on the performance of UWCEM hardware resources in application to 3-D microwave breast tomography. A sample test domain is selected for quantitative illustration of this practical application of hardware acceleration.