TABLE 1 Dimensions of the Proposed Antenna
EARLY DETECTION OF BREAST
TUMORS USING UWB MICROSTRIP
ANTENNA IMAGING
1 1 2 L 5 25 mm, W 5 16 mm
Radouane Karli, Hassan Ammor, and Bal S. Virdee
1
Electronic and Communication Laboratory EMI, Mohammed V
University in Rabat, Morocco; Corresponding author:
radouane.karli@gmail.com
2
Faculty of Life Sciences & Computing, Center for Communications
Technology, London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
Received 4 February 2016
ABSTRACT: This paper describes the detection of tumors in human
breast tissues using an UWB planar antenna operating at a frequency
recommended by FCC. The antenna has a measured bandwidth from
3.92 GHz to 11.32 GHz for |S11| < 10 dB. The detection technique is
based on using the fact that the tumor’s electrical properties, in particu-
lar conduction and specific absorption rate (SAR), change significantly
from those of healthy biological tissue when exposed to microwave radi-
ation. The hemispherical breast model used comprised breast skin, fat
and the tumor tissue. Investigation was done with the tumor located at
several positions inside the heterogeneous breast model. The patch
antenna was operated in its near field by placed it in contact with the
breast to enhance its sensitivity. High current density has been observed
for various positions and sizes of the deep seated tumor while keeping
SAR within safe limits specified by FCC of 1.6 W/Kg. A comparison
technique is used to identify whether or not tumor (benign or malignant)
is present in the breast. The results reveal the validity of the proposed
simple and effective technique. V C 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:2101–2106, 2016; View this article
online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.29980
Key words: microwave imaging; breast cancer; UWB antenna; tumor
tissues
1. INTRODUCTION
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women partic-
ularly in developed countries [1]. Early detection of breast can-
cer is known to be a key factor in the successful treatment of
the disease. Since the birth of radiological techniques several
methods have been developed, including microwave imaging
[2]. This technique involves transmitting microwave signals
through the breast tissue and recording the received signals scat-
Figure 1 Geometry of the proposed antenna (a) Top view, and (b)
Bottom view. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is
available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
DOI 10.1002/mop MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 58, No. 9, September 2016
Elements Dimensions
Substrate FR4 er 5 4.4, h 5 0.8 mm
Microstrip line LMl 5 13 mm
WMl 5 1.6 mm
Slots S15 1.5 3 1.5 mm2
S2 5 S3 5 0.5 3 6 mm2
S4 5 1.6 3 4 mm2
Steps St1 5 10 3 1 mm2
St2 5 7 3 0.75 mm2
Patch 12 3 8 mm2
Ground Lp 5 11.5 mm
Wp 5 16 mm
tered from different locations. As the dielectric properties of
tumor differ from healthy breast tissue, this suggests that the
reflected and the scattered signals will be different for both
types of tissues. The cause of this difference in electrical proper-
ties in terms of relative permittivity and conductivity is attrib-
uted to the fact that normal breast tissue, although, a fatty and
lossy medium, is largely transparent to microwave radiation
compared to lesions, containing more fluids, in terms of water
and blood, providing a higher lossy medium to microwave prop-
agation [3].
The breast imaging now allows not only the detection of
sub-centimeter lesions, but also their characterization. The anal-
ysis of breast lesions using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
is based primarily on morphological criteria (size, shape, con-
tour, internal decision-contrast enhancement), but also kinetic
(speed, current, dynamic contrast enhancement). This non-
invasive radiological technique is based on the physical phe-
nomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) [4,5]. Although
MRI is a powerful medical diagnostic technique that provides
three-dimensional images with high anatomical precision, how-
ever it is very expensive to buy and maintain especially by third
world developing countries.
Over the last two decades, medical imaging applications
based on microwaves has been developed hugely. The emerging
microwave imaging techniques gives better results with the
advantages of non-ionizing, comfortable, sensitive to tumors and
specific to malignancies [6]. In addition, the development of
UWB microstrip patch antennas is shown to reduce cluttered
data to produce highly localized images [6–8].
Figure 2 The photograph of the UWB antenna. [Color figure can be
viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
2101
Figure 3 Comparison between simulation and measurements of: (a)
S11, and (b) VSWR. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue,
which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

This paper describes a compact UWB microstrip antenna for

medical imaging. In particular, the proposed antenna is used to
detect and characterize hidden tumors of various sizes inside the
breasts. The detection is based on comparing the electrical prop-
erties of healthy and malignant breast tissues when radiated with
microwave energy. The simulation results presented here reveal
the effectiveness and sensitivity of the simple antenna structure
in the detection of tumors.

2. UWB PLANAR ANTENNA

In this study a typical low-profile microstrip antenna design that
is based on rectangular radiator with a 50X feedline was chosen
because the single layer antenna structure can be accurately
modeled, and is cost effective to manufacture.

TABLE 2 Comparison Between Simulated and Measured

Reflection Coefficient
Figure 4 (a) Radiation patterns, and (b) Gain performance. [Color figure
Bandwidth for Bandwidth for Resonant
can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.
S11  26 dB S11  210 dB frequency Level |S11|
com]
Simulated 3.59–13.51 GHz 3.92–11.06 GHz 4.55 GHz 218.8 dB
8.07 GHz 234 dB
9.39 GHz 225.16 dB The rectangular patch design, in Figure 1, was designed as
Measured 3.59–11.75 GHz 3.92–11.32 GHz 5.43 GHz 221.39 dB
described in Ref. [9] with slots to increase its bandwidth. A
7.24 GHz 229.13 dB
50X feedline was used, and the antenna was excited through the
10.55 GHz 225.34 dB
SMA connector. The antenna design was implemented on FR4

2102 MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 58, No. 9, September 2016 DOI 10.1002/mop
TABLE 3 Comparison of Previous Designs With the Proposed
Antenna

Bandwidth (GHz) for Antenna

Antenna S11 210 dB or VSWR<2 size (mm2) Gain (dBi)
[12] 3–10.26 34 3 36 Not reported
[14] 4–9 30 3 30 2–6
[15] 1.15–4.4 75 3 75 2–8
This work 3.92–11.32 16 3 25 2.25–4.56

Figure 6 Current density distribution in the tissue without tumor, (a)

skin, and (b) breast fat. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue,
which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

nuity in the SMA connector to the antenna feedline introduced

Figure 5 (a) Breast model with tumor, and (b) Close-up of antenna
placed in contact with the breast. [Color figure can be viewed in the
online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
epoxy substrate, and the optimized dimensions of the antenna
are given in Table 1. Photograph of the antenna is shown in
Figure 2.
The simulated and measured return-loss and VSWR of the
optimized antenna is shown in Figure 3. The antenna has an
operating frequency band of 7.6 GHz for S11 better than 10 dB,
which covers the entire UWB frequency range as specified by
FCC. Figure 3 shows across its operating frequency the VSWR
is 2:1 indicating good impedance match.
Table 2 compares the simulated and measurement reflection
coefficient results. It shows the bandwidth results are compara-
ble. The difference in performance is attributed to any disconti-
TABLE 4 Dielectric Properties of the Breast Model at 6GHz
Conductivity r (S/m) Permittivity er
Skin 1.1 39
Breast tissues 0.59 4.49
Tumor 4 50
by the solder and fabrication tolerance.
Figure 4 shows the antenna’s radiation patterns at various
spot frequencies and gain performance. The antenna radiates
omni-directionally in the E- and H-planes, and is stable over its
operating frequency range. The antenna gain varies from 2.25
dBi to 4.55 dBi over the operating band with an average radia-
tion efficiency of 96%. This antenna structure was employed to
detect tumors by microwave imaging.
Table 3 presents a comparison between the performance of some
recently developed UWB antennas and the proposed antenna. The
proposed antenna has advantages of a wider impedance bandwidth,
compact size, and good gain performance.
3. TUMOR DETECTION
Several models representing breasts have been reported by
researchers [10,11]. In this study we used a simple hemispherical
model to represent the breast, as shown in Figure 5. The most
common size of the breast was used here. The dielectric proper-
ties of the breast are shown in Table 4, where r is the conductiv-
ity of tissue and er is the dielectric permittivity [12]. The typical
size of the tumor is in the range from 0.2 cm to about 1.5 cm
[11–14]. In this study, we have modeled a spherical tumor with a
radius of 0.3 cm and 0.5 cm in order to compare our results with
other researchers work reported in Refs. 12,14,15.

DOI 10.1002/mop MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 58, No. 9, September 2016 2103
Figure 7 SAR distribution in tissue without tumor, (a) Skin, and (b)
Breast fat. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is
available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

The hemispherical breast model has a radius of 5.5 cm. The

breast is composed of outer skin of 0.2 mm thickness, and inner
fatty breast tissue of 5.3 cm radius. The tumor is located inside
the breast. The proposed antenna is placed in contact with the
breast, as shown in Figure 5, to increase its sensitivity. This is
because the breast skin has electrical properties comparable to
the breast tumors and when the antenna is placed away from the
breast most of the signal is scattered from the breast skin. This
results in masking of the reflections from the tumor. The breast
was modeled with Ansys HFSS, which is a 3D electromagnetic
simulation tool.
The signal reflected by a biological tissue depends on the
density of induced currents in and over it. We can use this
information to analyze whether or not a breast has a tumor by
comparing it with a healthy breast scenario. The breast model is
exposed in the near field of the antenna, radiating a permissible
125 mW at 6 GHz. The current density and specific absorption
rate (SAR) in the skin and fatty tissue of the breast with no Figure 8 Current density distribution in tissue with 3 mm tumor, (a)
tumor are shown in Figures 6 and 7. The SAR value refers to Skin, (b) Breast fat, and (c) Tumor. [Color figure can be viewed in the
power averaged over 10 g of tissue. Figures 8 and 9, show the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
current density and SAR in the case of a breast with a tumor.
Figures 8 and 9 show higher current density on the skin and From Figure 8 it is clear that peak volume current density on
tumor with safe peak SAR values of microwave radiation on the tumor of 3 mm radius is as high as 9.94 A/m2 at position (4, 2,
breast fat and skin. The tumor was positioned at location 0.75). However, the current density is 3.65 A/m2 at position (4,
defined by co-ordination x 5 4, y 5 2, and z 5 0.75. The spheri- 4.5, 0.75), and 0.84 A/m2 at (4, 4, 4.75). SAR for tumor of 3 mm
cally modeled tumors of radii 3 mm and 5 mm were analyzed radius are 9.05 3 1023, 2.84 3 1023 and 1.64 3 1024 W/Kg,
in the model at 6 GHz. respectively, at positions (4, 2, 0.75), (4, 4.5, 0.75) and (4, 4, 4.75),

2104 MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 58, No. 9, September 2016 DOI 10.1002/mop
Figure 9 SAR distribution in the tissue with 3 mm tumor, (a) Skin, (b) Breast fat, and (c) Tumor. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue,
which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com]

TABLE 5 Peak Current Densities and Peak SAR Values on the Tumor of Different Radii at Different Locations at 6 GHz

Tumor Radius

0.3 cm 0.5 cm
2 2
Tumor x,y,z position in cm r (A/m ) SAR (W/Kg) r (A/m ) SAR (W/Kg)
23
4, 2, 0.75 9.94 9.05 3 10 9.46 7.89 3 1023
4, 4.5, 0.75 3.65 2.84 3 1023 3.23 1.23 3 1023
4, 4, 4.75 0.845 1.64 3 1024 2.84 8.47 3 1024

TABLE 6 Peak Current Density and Peak SAR Value on Skin and Breast Fat at Different Locations at 6 GHz for a Tumor Radius of
0.3 cm

Tumor radius 5 0.3 cm

Skin Breast fat

Tumor x,y,z position in cm r (A/m2) SAR (W/Kg) r (A/m2) SAR (W/Kg)

22
4, 2, 0.75 19.13 5.71 3 10 1.15 4.8 3 1023
4, 4.5, 0.75 19.55 5.84 3 1022 1.15 4.81 3 1023
4, 4, 4.75 19.82 5.60 3 1022 1.19 4.9 3 1023

which is quite small and within safe limit defined by FCC of 1.6
W/Kg).
The peak current densities and peak SAR values on the
tumor of radii 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm at various positions is given
in Table 5. The antenna is placed in contact with the breast skin
as explained above to increase its sensitivity. The table shows
the position of the tumor inside the breast has an effect on its
detection. In particular, the further the antenna is from the tumor
the lower the detection, which justifies the need for the use of
an array antenna.
Tables 6 and 7 show the values of peak volume current den-
sity, r, and peak SAR value on skin and breast fatty tissue for

TABLE 7 Peak Current Density and Peak SAR Value on Skin and Breast fat at Different Locations at 6 GHz for a Tumor Radius of
0.5 cm

Tumor radius 5 0.5 cm

Skin Breast fat

2 2
Tumor x,y,z position in cm r (A/m ) SAR (W/Kg) r (A/m ) SAR (W/Kg)
22
4, 2, 0.75 21.12 6.37 3 10 1.21 5.27 3 1023
4, 4.5, 0.75 20.69 5.37 3 1022 1.24 5.38 3 1023
4, 4, 4.75 20.65 6.76 3 1022 1.213 5.57 3 1023

DOI 10.1002/mop MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 58, No. 9, September 2016 2105
TABLE 8 Peak Current Density and Peak SAR Value of Breast No Tumor Case at 6 GHz
Skin
2 2
Tumor x,y,z position in cm r (A/m )
4, 2, 0.75 11.67
4, 4.5, 0.75 9.96
4, 4, 4.75 9.96
different sizes of tumors in the breast and different position.
The tables confirm the larger the tumor the higher the magni-
tude of the current density and SAR value. In both cases the
SAR values are well within safe limits defined by FCC (1.6 W/
Kg).
Table 8 shows the values of the peak volume current density
and peak SAR value on skin and breast fatty tissue for the sce-
nario of the breast with no tumor. It is evident that for a non-
malignant case the current densities and SAR values over the
skin and breast fat are much lower.
This study shows the proposed antenna can be used to effec-
tively detect malignant tissue inside breasts. This study is proof
of concept which needs to be verified experimentally. We
believe with an array antenna the sensitivity for detection can
be greatly enhanced.
4. CONCLUSION
The study presented in this paper confirms that a planar UWB
antenna can be used in a medical imaging system to detect
tumor tissues growing inside the human breast. The study is
based on current densities and SAR in the various tissues consti-
tuting the breast tissue including breast skin and fat. The hetero-
geneous breast model was radiated with 125 mW in the near
field. The SAR in the breast tissues are well within safe limits
specified by FCC. The results demonstrate a single miniature
planar antenna has sufficient sensitivity to detect tumors when
the antenna is in contact with the breast skin. We believe that
with an array antenna the detection sensitivity will be greatly
enhanced for accurate detection and location of tumors in breast
tissues. Compared with other sophisticated imaging techniques
the proposed technique is effective and relatively easy to
implement.
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C 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
V
HIGH SENSITIVE MICROWAVE SENSOR
BASED ON SYMMETRICAL SPLIT RING
RESONATOR FOR MATERIAL
CHARACTERIZATION
Rammah A. Alahnomi,1 Z. Zakaria,1 E. Ruslan,2
Amyrul Azuan Mohd Bahar.,1 and S. R. Ab Rashid1
1
Centre for Telecommunication Research and Innovation (CeTRI),
Universiti TeKnikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Durian Tunggal, Melaka
76100, Malaysia; Corresponding author: zahriladha@utem.edu.my
2
Faculty of Technology Engineering (FTK), Universiti TeKnikal
Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Durian Tunggal, Melaka 76100, Malaysia
Received 14 February 2016
ABSTRACT: A simple novel microwave planar sensor based on sym-
metrical split ring resonator (SSRR) has been applied for the first time
to measure the dielectric permittivity of materials under test (MUT). The
results achieve narrow resonance with high Q sensitivity of 407 which
makes it great promising applications for biosensors in the future. Three
practical materials have been used as standards to validate the sensor.
A detailed sample thickness analysis has been considered and accord-
ingly the mathematical equation is driven to extract the properties of
DOI 10.1002/mop