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Ultraband Milimeter Wave Application
Ultraband Milimeter Wave Application
Biomedical Applications: Feasibility Study
Amir Mirbeik and Negar Tavassolian
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken, New Jersey, USA
Email: amirbeik@stevens.edu
Abstract—This article numerically verifies ultra-high- ~85 GHz in the millimeter-wave regime. The radiating antenna
resolution confocal millimeter-wave imaging for biomedical elements should therefore exhibit an excellent input impedance
applications for the first time. A system with an ultra-wide match, a distortion-less impulse response, and a frequency-
bandwidth of more than 85 GHz is proposed to provide the ultra- independent radiation pattern across this entire frequency range
high resolutions required for biomedical imaging applications. to guarantee a high-quality image. It is rather challenging for a
The feasibility of detecting early-stage tumors in three single antenna structure to maintain all these requirements. An
dimensions is shown using realistic numerical phantoms. A alternative approach would be to design several antennas, each
suitable image formation algorithm is developed and applied to operating at a specific sub-band. The sub-bands would sum up
the data. Successful resolution of spherical tumors is achieved in
to realize the required ultra-wide bandwidth, resulting in a
the obtained images both axially and laterally.
“synthetic” ultra-wideband imaging system [5]. To that end,
Keywords— Biomedical imaging; ultra-high-resolution we employ three substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)-based
imaging; millimeter-wave technology; ultra-wideband antenna. antipodal Vivaldi antennas with the same geometry at different
sizes, covering frequency ranges of 35-55 GHz, 55-80 GHz,
and 80-120 GHz, suggested by [5]. Fig. 1 shows schematics of
I. INTRODUCTION the sub-band antennas, each designed for: 1) return losses of
An interesting and recently emerging application of more than 15 dB, 2) stable radiation patterns, and (3) fixed
millimeter waves is in tissue diagnostics and detection of phase centers across its corresponding bandwidth.
pathological changes which manifest as a change in electrical
parameters. Millimeter waves (30-300 GHz) have shorter In this work, a numerical feasibility study of an ultra-high
wavelengths than microwaves, and therefore allow for a higher resolution mm-wave imaging system for the detection of early-
spatial resolution. They can penetrate several hundreds of stage skin tumors is presented. Two numerical setups are
micrometers into the body [1], and are therefore suitable for the considered in section II for the evaluation of the lateral and
detection of pathological changes in different skin layers or the axial resolutions of the system in a realistic skin-mimicking
outer tissue layers of organs. It is in those layers where a phantom. Signal processing and image formation methods are
majority of primary tumors originate [2]. As we move to higher summarized in section III. The confocal delay and sum (DAS)
frequencies (i.e. the THz regime), electromagnetic waves have beamforming technique is used to reconstruct images from the
only minimal penetration and are therefore unable to visualize ultra-wideband backsattered data. Imaging results are presented
the tissue through its depth. in section IV.
2D sagittal and lateral images at planes passing through the
center of tumors are shown in Fig. 5. The near-zero intensity at
the right end side of the sagittal image is due to the effective
time-gating step which has excluded clutter originating from
that side. The tumors are clearly resolvable and the Ralyeigh
criterion is achieved in both cases. The lateral expansion in the
sagittal image is due to imaging in free space rather than the
matching medium, which results in a lateral resolution greater
(b)
than the tumor sizes.
Fig. 5. (a) Sagital and (b) lateral images for axial and lateral resolution
Distances of 680 µm and 750 μm between the maximum verifications. The edges of the tumors are separated by 300 µm. The
responses of the tumors are achieved in sagittal and lateral tumors are clearly resolved.
images respectively (the actual distances are 900 µm and 750
μm). The predictable error is due to the assumptions considered nonmelanoma skin cancers,” Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, vol. 43,
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