Biomedical imaging system using software defined radio

Microwave medical imaging is an attractive complement to current diagnostic tools for medical applications due to its low-cost, portability and non-ionization radiation. In this paper, generic software defined radio (SDR) technology is used to perform biomedical measurements, paving the way for low-cost, compact and reconfigurable imaging systems. SDR technology is capable of wide band instantaneous spectrum capture, in our case 20 MHz at a time in the 0.3 - 3.8 GHz band. To provide the resolution required in medical imaging, it needs to combine multiple frequency spectrums together. Using this as the basis of the system, a cylindrical scanning system and directional antenna are used to measure a biological phantom with multiple targets inside. The system is able to detect the two targets with varying spacing.