Modeling of a Hexagonal Microstrip Patch Antenna for Breast Cancer Detection

Abstract

Breast cancer is a global problem, and it is inevitable to detect cancerous cells at early stages. In recent years, microwave imaging (MWI) technology has been widely applied in biomedical applications for its nonionizing radiation. Therefore, in this paper, a low profile hexagonal microstrip patch antenna has been proposed for the technology to detect breast cancer. This antenna has wide operating bandwidth of 13.5 GHz (6.6 GHz to 20.1 GHz), and the return loss is as low as −50.83 dB at 8 GHz. To evaluate the antenna performances, the proposed antenna has been simulated in two different simulation software like HFSS and CST MWS. The antenna has achieved a maximum gain of 8.82 dBi with a quasi-omnidirectional radiation pattern. A three-layered human body mimicking breast phantom with different dielectric properties has been designed with and without tumor mimicking tissue. The difference between the dielectric properties of the tumor and the dielectric properties of different layers of breast phantom in the presence of external radiation field can inform the existence of tumor inside the breast phantom. An array of eight elements of proposed antenna is distributed around the breast phantom to detect the tumor with a minimum radius of 2 mm. Because of the low profile and compact in size (7.9 mm×11.4 mm), the proposed antenna is suitable for multistatic MWI technology for breast cancer detection at early stage.