A TSVD analysis of an enclosed array of multi-band patch antennas for microwave breast imaging

Quantitative microwave imaging based on inverse scattering shows promise for breast cancer risk assessment, detection, and treatment monitoring due to its low cost, non-ionizing nature, and fully three-dimensional imaging potential. The quality of the microwave image is limited by the quality of the scattering data recorded by the antenna array that surrounds the breast. At the UHF frequencies typically used in microwave inverse scattering algorithms, the target exists within the near field of the antennas, necessitating a departure from established far-field array analysis techniques. An analysis based on truncated singular value decomposition (TSVD) provides a systematic approach to evaluating potential near-field imaging performance as a function of various array design considerations.