Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical

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Shiban Kishen Koul · Priyansha Kaurav

Sub-Terahertz Sensing
Technology for Biomedical
Applications
Shiban Kishen Koul Priyansha Kaurav
Center for Applied Research in Electronics Institute for High Frequency &
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Communication Technology
New Delhi, India University of Wuppertal
Wuppertal, Germany

ISSN 1618-7210 ISSN 2197-5647 (electronic)

Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering
ISBN 978-981-19-3139-0 ISBN 978-981-19-3140-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3140-6

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Preface

The modern-day terahertz (THz) spectrometers and imaging systems have become
standard laboratory tools thanks to advances in THz source and detector technology.
The sub-THz band covers the frequency spectrum of 0.1–0.3 THz, and the THz
extends from 0.3 to 10 THz frequency range. Their applications range from explo-
sive and concealed weapon detection, non-destructive testing, pharmaceutical drug
quality control, and biomedical imaging. The concept of using sub-THz and THz radi-
ations for ex-vivo and in-vivo tissue diagnostic and screening purposes has attracted
enormous interest due to their high sensitivity and non-ionizing properties.
The ability to provide a broad spectrum of spectral responses has led to an increase
in the popularity of time-domain spectrometers (TDS), which use electro-optical
pulses to analyze biological samples. Because these electro-optic sampling-based
TDS setups are bulky and expensive, it is not economically feasible to use this
technology for the purpose of developing portable and inexpensive imaging and
sensing systems in the THz region of the Electromagnetics (EM). In addition, because
of the lower efficiency of the laser source, these setups have poor accuracy in the sub-
THz frequency range as a result. It is now possible to develop compact, robust, and
simple-to-use systems for biomedical applications thanks to advances in electronic
technology at sub-THz frequencies.
Furthermore, several biomedical applications of the electromagnetic spectrum
necessitate the real-time monitoring of dynamic parameters of physiological states
in humans. When it comes to these applications, computation-intensive methods
utilizing massive parallelization techniques on high-performance platforms such as
GPUs/TPUs are required for the analysis of biomedical signals. These computing
systems have made it possible to model large amounts of data extremely effectively
using machine learning. Sub-THz technology is combined with machine learning in
this book to produce an automated diagnostic approach for extracting and analyzing
information from electronic sub-THz measurement systems.
The concepts of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled sub-THz systems for novel
applications in the biomedical field are introduced in this book, providing readers
with an opportunity to learn about them. Furthermore, the readers will be motivated

vii
viii Preface

to contextualize these applications to solve real-world problems such as non-invasive

glucose monitoring systems, cancer detection systems, and dental imaging systems.
Chapter 1 of the book discusses how the THz frequency band has evolved in the
biomedical domain. It emphasizes its advantages over other frequency regimes such
as microwaves and infrared. The section also examines various ways in which THz
diagnostics, imaging, and treatment can contribute to biomedical research and treat-
ment. The second section of this chapter compares electronics-based THz technology
with other conventional electro-optic THz setups, with the results highlighting the
superior efficiency, affordability, and portability of electronics-based THz systems
over the other options, especially in sub-THz region.
In the remaining chapters, sub-THz, and THz measurement systems for a variety
of biomedical applications are discussed. Specifically, the chapters describe three
major applications in which sub-THz provides an advantage over the current state-
of-the-art technologies. These applications include non-invasive measurement of
blood glucose levels, intraoperative assessment of tumor margins, and skin cancer
detection, among others. Thorough description of application of machine learning
for measurement systems for non-invasive glucose concentration measurement is
presented in detail. This makes it easier for the reader to relate to the output in a
more user-friendly format and to comprehend the various possible use cases in a
clear and concise manner. Furthermore, the book assists the reader in learning how
to construct tissue phantoms and characterize them at sub-THz frequencies to test
the measurement systems. A brief introduction to system automation for biomedical
imaging is provided at the end of the book, which will help the reader perform a
quick analysis of the data.
We believe that the book will empower the reader to understand and appreciate
the immense possibilities of using sub-THz systems in the biomedical field, creating
gateways for fueling further research in this area.

New Delhi, India Shiban Kishen Koul

Wuppertal, Germany Priyansha Kaurav
Contents

1 Terahertz Spectrum in Biomedical Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Terahertz Biomedical Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.1 Terahertz in Medical Diagnostics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2 Terahertz in Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.3 Terahertz in Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3 Terahertz Instrumentation: From Photonics to Electronics . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.1 Terahertz Photonics Devices and Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.2 Terahertz Electronic Devices and Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.4 Artificial Intelligence in Sub-Terahertz Bioelectronics . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.5 Scope of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 Electronic Sub-Terahertz VNA Measurement Techniques . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.2 Terahertz VNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2.1 Scattering Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.3 Generic VNA Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.4 Terahertz VNA Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4.1 Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Frequency Translation Using
Extenders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4.2 Terahertz VNA Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.5 Terahertz VNA Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.5.1 Calibration Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.6 Sub-Terahertz VNA Measurement Systems for Permittivity
Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.6.1 Nicolson-Ross-Weir Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.6.2 Quasi-Optical Free-Space Permittivity Measurement . . . . . . 47
2.6.3 Open-Waveguide Probe for Viscous Liquid
Permittivity Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

ix
x Contents

3 Biological Tissue Interaction with Sub-Terahertz Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.2 Dielectric Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.2.1 Dielectric Polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.2.2 Dielectric Spectroscopy Parameter: Complex
Permittivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.2.3 Frequency Response of Dielectric Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.2.4 Relaxation Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.3 Dielectric Characterization of Water
in Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.3.1 Relaxation Models of Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.4 Dielectric Characterization of Biological Solution Using
Terahertz Hydration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.5 Effective Medium Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.5.1 Maxwell Garnett Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.5.2 Bruggeman Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.5.3 Landau-Lifshitz-Looyenga Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.5.4 Polder and Van Santen Model for Ellipsoidal Particles . . . . . 75
3.6 Dielectric Constant of Biological Materials in Sub-Terahertz
Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.6.1 Dielectric Spectra of Saccharide Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.6.2 Dielectric Spectra of Blood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3.6.3 Dielectric Spectra of Protein Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.6.4 Dielectric Spectra of Biological Tissues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
3.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4 Non-invasive Sub-Terahertz Blood Glucose Measurement . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.2 Non-ionizing Blood Glucose Measurement Techniques Using
EM Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.2.1 Penetration Depth of the EM Wave with Respect
to Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.2.2 Performance Evaluation Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.2.3 ISO 15197: Accuracy Assessment Standard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.2.4 Non-invasive Glucose Measurements Using Intrinsic
Properties of Glucose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.2.5 Non-invasive Glucose Measurements Using Dielectric
Properties of Tissue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
4.3 Sub-Terahertz Spectrum for Non-invasive Evaluation
of Glucose Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.3.1 Penetration Depth of Sub-Terahertz Wave Inside
Blood Tissue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
4.3.2 Dielectric Properties of Glucose with Variable
Concentration in Sub-Terahertz Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Contents xi

4.4 Tissue Phantom Models for Glucose Concentration

Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.4.1 Tissue-Mimicking Phantoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.4.2 Phantoms for Non-invasive Glucose Concentration
Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.5 Non-invasive Sub-Terahertz Glucose Concentration
Measurement Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.5.1 Measurement Using Reflection Properties
of Sub-Terahertz Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.5.2 Measurement Using Transmission Properties
of Sub-Terahertz Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
4.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5 Breast Tumor Margin Assessment Using Sub-Terahertz Wave . . . . . . 127
5.1 Breast-Conserving Surgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.1.1 Histopathological Assessment of Excised Tissue . . . . . . . . . . 129
5.2 Intraoperative Tumor Margin Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5.2.1 Criteria for Developing Intraoperative Tumor Margin
Assessment Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.3 Current Intraoperative Techniques for Breast Tumor Margin
Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.3.1 Pathology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.3.2 Nuclear Medicine: Positron Emission Tomography . . . . . . . 134
5.3.3 Electromagnetic Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.4 EM Interaction of Excised Breast Tissue
in Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.4.1 Breast Tissues Characterization
in Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Frequency Bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.4.2 Excised Breast Tissue Phantoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.5 Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Imaging for Breast Tumor Margin
Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.5.1 Photonics-Based Terahertz Imaging System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.5.2 Electronics-Based Terahertz Imaging System . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
6 Sub-Terahertz and Terahertz Waves for Skin Diagnosis
and Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.1 Overview of Skin Cancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.1.1 Types and Stages of Melanoma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
6.1.2 Skin Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.2 Advanced Skin Cancer Diagnostic Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
6.2.1 Multispectral Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
6.2.2 Electrical Bioimpedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
6.2.3 High-Frequency Ultrasound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
xii Contents

6.2.4 Optical Coherence Tomography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

6.2.5 Confocal Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.2.6 Raman Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
6.3 Interaction of Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Radiation with Human
Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
6.3.1 Dielectric Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
6.3.2 N-Layered Interaction Models of Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
6.4 Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Imaging for Skin Cancer Detection . . . . . . 183
6.4.1 Non-melanoma Skin Cancer Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
6.4.2 Melanoma Skin Cancer Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6.5 Therapeutic Applications of Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz
Radiation on the Skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
6.6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
7 Machine Learning and Biomedical Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
7.1 Machine Learning in Biomedical Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
7.2 ML Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
7.3 Supervised Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
7.3.1 Steps in Supervised Learning Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
7.3.2 Algorithms in Supervised Learning Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
7.4 Unsupervised Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
7.4.1 Cluster Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
7.4.2 Principal Component Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
7.5 Performance Metrics of ML Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
7.5.1 Regression Performance Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
7.5.2 Classification Performance Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
7.6 Performance Evaluation Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
7.6.1 Holdout Evaluation Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
7.6.2 Cross-Validation Evaluation Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
7.7 ML in Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
7.7.1 ML in Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Biomedical Signal
Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
7.7.2 ML in Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Biomedical Image
Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
7.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
8 Automation in Sub-Terahertz/Terahertz Imaging Systems . . . . . . . . . . 241
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
8.2 Automation in Data Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
8.2.1 Motorized Stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
8.2.2 Robotics Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
8.3 MATLAB Based Terahertz VNA Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
8.4 Automation in Data Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Contents xiii

8.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Appendix A: Modified Newton Raphson Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Appendix B: Relation Between Complex Permittivity and Complex
Refractive Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Appendix C: MATLAB Code for Establishing a Connection
Between VNA and PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
About the Authors

Shiban Kishen Koul received the B.E. degree in elec-

trical engineering from Regional Engineering College,
Srinagar, India, in 1977, and the M.Tech. and Ph.D.
degrees in microwave engineering from the Indian
Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India, in
1979 and 1983, respectively. He has been an Emer-
itus Professor with the Indian Institute of Technology,
Delhi, since 2019 and Mentor Deputy Director (Strategy
and Planning, International affairs) with IIT Jammu,
J&K, India, since 2018. He served as Deputy Director
(Strategy and Planning) with IIT Delhi from 2012–2016.
He also served as the Chairman of Astra Microwave
Products Limited, Hyderabad, from 2009–2019, and
Dr. R. P. Shenoy Astra Microwave Chair Professor
at IIT Delhi from 2014–2019. His research interests
include RF MEMS, high-frequency wireless communi-
cation, microwave engineering, microwave passive and
active circuits, device modeling, millimeter and sub-
millimeter-wave IC design, body area networks, flexible
and wearable electronics, medical applications of sub-
terahertz waves and reconfigurable microwave circuits,
including miniaturized antennas. He has successfully
completed 38 major sponsored projects, 52 consultancy
projects, and 61 technology development projects. He
has authored/co-authored 570 research papers, 18 state-
of-the-art books, four book chapters, and two e-books.
He holds 26 patents, six copyrights, and one trade-
mark. He has guided 28 Ph.D. theses and more than
120 master’s theses.
Professor Koul is a Life Fellow of IEEE and Fellow
of INAE and IETE. He is the Chief Editor of the IETE

xv
xvi About the Authors

Journal of Research, Associate Editor of the Interna-

tional Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technolo-
gies, Cambridge University Press. He served as a Distin-
guished Microwave Lecturer of IEEE MTT-S for the
period 2012–2014. Prior to this, he served as a Speaker
Bureau Lecturer of IEEE MTT-S. He also served as
an AdCom member of the IEEE MTT-S from 2010–
2018 and is presently a member of the Awards, Nomi-
nation, and Appointments, MGA, M&S, and Education
Committees of the IEEE MTT-S. He is the recipient of
numerous awards, including IEEE MTT Society Distin-
guished Educator Award (2014); Teaching Excellence
Award (2012) from IIT Delhi; Indian National Science
Academy (INSA) Young Scientist Award (1986); Top
Invention Award (1991) of the National Research Devel-
opment Council for his contributions to the indige-
nous development of ferrite phase shifter technology;
VASVIK Award (1994) for the development of Ka-band
components and phase shifters; Ram Lal Wadhwa Gold
Medal (1995) from the Institution of Electronics and
Communication Engineers (IETE); Academic Excel-
lence Award (1998) from Indian Government for his
pioneering contributions to phase control modules for
Rajendra Radar, Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award (2009)
in the field of Electronics and Information Technology,
VASVIK Award (2012) for the contributions made to the
area of Information, Communication Technology (ICT)
and M N Saha Memorial Award (2013) from IETE.

Priyansha Kaurav as a Prime Minister’s Research

Fellow (PMRF), completed her Ph.D. in 2022 at the
Center for Applied Research in Electronics (CARE),
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. She is
currently working as a research scientist in Institute
of High Frequency System and Communication Tech-
nology (IHCT) in University of Wuppertal, Germany.
Priyansha’s primary research is centered around
Electronics Terahertz Sensors and Artificial Intelli-
gence in RF and Microwave. She has several high-
quality publications and patents under her name. Some
of the key ones include “Sub-Terahertz apparatus
and method for subsurface malignant tissue imaging,”
Indian Patent application no.: 202111028062, Appa-
ratus and Method for Non-invasive Measurement of
About the Authors xvii

Blood Glucose Concentration, Indian Patent applica-

tion no.: 202011050895, A system and a method for
material characterization, Indian Patent application no.:
202011008994. Her major publications include “Elec-
tromagnetic Characterization of Breast Tissue Phantoms
in D-Band Regime in IEEE Journal of Electromag-
netics, RF and Microwaves in Medicine and Biology
and Non-invasive Glucose Measurement Using Sub-
Terahertz Sensor, Time-Domain Processing and Neural
Network in IEEE Sensors. She has won the Innova-
tion Award at IIT Delhi (2016) and received Travel
Support for International Cooperation Program orga-
nized by Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE).
She is also the recipient of the Academic Excellence
Award from IIITDM Jabalpur. Prior to joining Ph.D.
Program, she worked as RF and Design Engineer at
Qualcomm India. She is a reviewer for several leading
transactions and journals in the fields of biomedical
applications of microwave, millimeter, and terahertz
sensors and systems. She is also an active member of
IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society and
is currently holding the position of Treasurer at IEEE
MTT-S Student Branch Chapter, IIT Delhi, and key
Women In Engineering Representative position in the
same Chapter.
Abbreviations

2D Two-Dimensional
3D Three-Dimensional
AI Artificial Intelligence
ATR Attenuated Total Internal Reflection
AUC-ROC Area under Receiver operating characteristics curve
BCC Basal Cell Carcinoma
BCS Breast-Conserving Surgery
BPNN Backpropagation Neural Network
BSA Bovine Serum Albumin
BW Bandwidth
BWO Backward-Wave Oscillators
CC-PCF Photonic Crystal Fiber
CEG Clarke Error Grid
CGBM Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring
CLI Cherenkov luminescence imaging
CNN Convolutional Neural Network
Cr-GaAs Chromium-Doped Gallium Arsenide
CST Computer Simulation Technology
CT Computed Tomography
CW Continuous Wave
DAST Diethyl Amino Sulphur Trifluoride
DCIS Ductal Carcinoma In Situ
DD Double Debye
DFG Difference Frequency Generator
DL Deep Learning
DNN Deep Neural Networks
DRA Dielectric Resonator Antenna
DUT Device under Test
EDC Epidermal Differentiation Complex
EIS Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy
EM Electromagnetic

xix
xx Abbreviations

EOSC Emphatic Orthogonal Signal Correction

FDG Fluorodeoxyglucose
FDTD Finite Difference Time Domain
FFPE Formalin-Fixed Paraffin Embedded
FN False Negative
FNN Feed-Forward Neural Network
FP False Positive
FPR False-Positive Rate
FSA Frozen Section Analysis
GaAs Gallium Arsenide
GD Gradient Descent
GFRP Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer
GHz Gigahertz
GI Gastrointestinal
GN Gauss-Newton
GOx Glucose Oxidase
GRL Gate-Reflect-Line
GUI Graphical User Interface
HB Hydrogen Bond
HBT Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor
HDPE High-Density Polyethylene
HEMT High Electron Mobility Transistor
HFSS High-Frequency Structure Simulator
HFUS High-Frequency Ultrasonography
IDC Invasive Ductal Carcinoma
IF Intermediate Frequency
IHC Immunohistochemical
ILC Invasive Lobular Carcinoma
InP Indium Phosphide
ISF Interstitial Fluid
ISO International Standards Organization
k-NN k-Nearest Neighbor
LiNbO3 Lithium Niobate
LLL Landau-Lifshitz-Looyenga
LO Local Oscillator
LOD Limit of Detection
LOOCV Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation
LRL Line-Reflect-Line
LSPA Linear Discriminant Analysis
LSRR Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance
MAE Mean Absolute Error
MAPE Mean Absolute Percentage Error
MCK Material Characterization Kit
MG Maxwell Garnett
MIR Mid-Infrared
Abbreviations xxi

ML Machine Learning
MM Malignant Melanoma
MMIC Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuit
mmW Millimeter Wave
MRI Magnetic Resonance Imaging
MSE Mean Squared Error
MW Microwave
NCCN National Comprehensive Cancer Network
NEP Noise Equivalent Power
NHB Non-Hydrogen-Bond
NIR Near-Infrared
NMSC Nonmelanoma skin cancer
NN Neural Network
NRW Nicolson-Ross-Weir
OCT Optical Coherence Tomography
OR Optical Rectification
PC Principal Component
PCA Principal Component Analysis
PC-OSC Principal Component Orthogonal Signal Correction
PET Positron Emission Tomography
PvS Polder and van Santen
QCL Quantum Cascade Lasers
QO-FSM Quasi-Optical Free-Space Material
RBC Red Blood Cells
RCM Reflectance Confocal Microscopy
RD-SOS Radiation-Damaged Silicon-on-Sapphire
ReLU Rectified Linear Unit
RMSE Root-Mean-Square Error
RNN Recurrent Neural Networks
ROI Region of Interest
S11 Reflection Coefficient
S21 Transmission Response
SC Stratum Corneum
SCC Squamous Cell Carcinoma
SG Savitzky–Golay
SGC Sebaceous Gland Carcinoma
S-matrix Scattering matrix
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
SOL Short-Open-Load
SOLT Short-Open-Load-Thru
SSE Sum of Square Error
SSL Short-Short-Load
SVM Support Vector Machine
TBI Traumatic Brain Injury
TCS Tissue-Conserving Surgery
xxii Abbreviations

TDS Time-Domain Spectroscopy

THz Terahertz
Ti: Sapphire Titanium-Doped Aluminum Oxide
TL Transmission Line
TN True Negative
TP True Positive
TPI THz Pulsed Imaging
TPP Time Post-Pulse
TPR True Positive Rate
TRL Thru-Reflect-Line
TSM Thru-Short-Match
US Ultrasound
UWB Ultra-wideband
VDI Virginia Diodes Inc.
VISA Virtual Instrument Software Architecture
VNA Vector Network Analyzer
VOC Volatile Organic Compound
WBC White Blood Cell
WHO World Health Organization
WI Waveguide Iris
WPT Wavelet Packet Transform
ZnTe Zinc Telluride