Wearable Antenna for Time-Domain Breast Tumor Detection

There is a considerable year by year increase in the number of women suffering from breast cancer. Early diagnosis is important to ensure the survival of patients. This study presents the development of a novel, wearable and flexible multiple input multiple output (MIMO) 2×4 antenna design, which operates at a frequency of 5.5–7 GHz for time-domain breast tumor detection. The antennas are all located in the cup of a bra, which is divided into four quadrants; each quadrant has two antennas for tumor detection. The parameters S11 and S21 for each antenna were measured in the frequency domain. The measured results of S11 and S21 indicate that the antennas worked well both with and without a breast phantom model at the assigned frequency. For antenna five, located in the third quadrant (the quadrant with the tumors), the signal response of the antenna on the breast phantom model had a higher amplitude than that without the breast phantom model. The results demonstrate that the antennas worked well for the detection of the tumors.

Breast cancer; MIMO, Tumor detection; Wearable antenna

Breast cancer is a major cause of an increased death rate among women. Early detection through regular screening improves the chance of recovery from breast cancer (Beura et al., 2015). Digital mammograms are used to detect breast cancer by classifying the mammogram as either normal or abnormal, using the k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) method (Nusantara et al., 2016). The use of microwave techniques for breast tumor detection has been extensively researched in recent years. Unlike standard X-ray mammography, these techniques offer breast scans that do not use ionizing radiation, do not require breast compression, and can be implemented at a lower cost (Kim et al., 2008; O’Halloran et al., 2010; Alsharif and Kurnaz, 2018). One of the most important components in the microwave techniques used for breast tumor detection is the ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna. The main principle in UWB imaging is to utilize the existing contrast in the dielectric properties of di?erent breast tissues (AlShehri et al., 2011). One of the image reconstruction techniques used to detect tumors is the development of sparse and low-rank compressive sensing (Sholeh et al., 2020).

Electromagnetic radiation emitted to the human body must comply with the rules set by the international commission on non-ionizing radiation protection (ICNIRP). For the general public, the specific absorption rate [W/kg] (SAR), in the frequency range from10 GHz, has a limit value of 2 W/kg (Kumagai et al., 2011). With UWB technology that uses low input power, it is possible to produce SAR values that meet the predetermined standards.

Research conducted by Bahramiabarghouei et al. (2015) designed a flexible 4´4 microstrip array antenna, using a coplanar waveguide feeder, to detect breast tumors. The antenna was designed to operate at a frequency of 2–4 GHz. In this study, the substrate used was Kapton Polyimide with ?_r = 3.5 and a thickness of 0.05 mm, with an antenna size of 20 mm ´ 20 mm. This antenna has a wide bandwidth (Ultra Wideband) (Bahramiabarghouei et al., 2015). In a study conducted by Afyf et al. (2015), a flexible microstrip antenna was designed, using a coplanar waveguide feeder, for breast cancer application at a frequency of 2–4 GHz. The substrate used was film. This antenna was very thin (0.125 mm) and of small size at 15 mm ´ 20 mm. In this study, the antenna worked in the frequency range of 2–4 GHz with a VSWR of 1.069. The measured bandwidth of 550 MHz was around 3 GHz, and the total gain was about 1 dB. The radiation pattern produced by the antenna was directional (Afyf et al., 2015).

Research conducted by Alsharif and Kurnaz (2018) created a new design for a wearable ultra-wideband (UWB) microstrip patch antenna for use in breast cancer detection. The operating frequency of their proposed antenna ranges from 1.6 GHz to 11.2 GHz. The antenna consists of a rectangular radiating patch that is fed by a rectangular feed line. This antenna is designed to be part of a wearable device for women, used to detect breast cancer early. To support its wearable properties, 100% cotton is used as a substrate with a dielectric constant of 1.6, while the transmission and ground component patches consist of copper as a conductive material (Alsharif and Kurnaz, 2018).

In this article, two previous studies were chosen as our references. In the first study (Porter et al., 2013), a time-domain radar was used as the basis for a breast cancer screening system. The system contained a 16-element multistatic array that operated in the 2–4 GHz range. In the second study (Mukherjee et al., 2019), a novel, experimental time-reversal imaging (TRI) system, based on a passive time reverse mirror (TRM), for breast tumor detection was presented. A significant contribution of the current study was the development of eight antennas that are distributed into four quadrants. Each quadrant has two antennas covering the area of the breast. The chosen antenna positions are based on the most frequently occurring tumors in the breast area. An algorithm was developed that was capable of extracting tumors from total fields in a bistatic radar setup. The antenna geometry is a unique model that is also our novel contribution.

The current study presents the development of a novel wearable and flexible MIMO 2 × 4 antenna design for time-domain breast tumor detection. This article describes the methodology used to detect a tumor in the breast phantom. All antennas were located in the cup of a bra, which was divided into four quadrants; each quadrant had two antennas for tumor detection. The study analyzed the measurement results from the antennas in both frequency and time domains. The antennas were measured using a vector network analyzer (VNA). The S21 represents the power transferred from Port 1 to Port 2 (VNA) and the S11 is the reflected power. The S11 and S21 were measured for each antenna, both with and without a breast phantom. 

This study introduces a novel wearable and flexible MIMO 2×4 antenna design operating at a frequency of 5.5–7 GHz for time-domain breast tumor detection. The parameters S11 and S21 for each antenna, with and without the breast phantom, were measured. The results show that the measurements of S11 and S21 in the frequencies domain were similar. However, in some frequencies, shifts did occur between the measurements of S11 with or without the breast phantom, but these were not significant.

The signal response from the antenna measurements in the quadrant with the breast tumor had a higher amplitude than those measured without a breast tumor. These results indicate that the antennas will work well for tumor detection. In future work, the size and depth of the tumor detected should be explored and evaluated.

    This work was financially supported by the Indonesia Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education under the INSINAS Program. The authors would like to thank the Indonesian Science Institute (LIPI) for the use of their measurement facility, and the Research and Community Service Agency (LPPM) Universitas Riau for their motivation and management of the research.

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