Metamaterial-Loaded 16-Printed Log Periodic Antenna Array for Microwave Imaging of Breast Tumor Detection

Abstract

This article presents printed log periodic antennas with metamaterials for use in microwave imaging. A single layer of epsilon negative (ENG) metamaterial (MTM) array (1 × 6) of the unit cell is on the radiating patch. Adding a single negative metamaterial structure enhances the properties of far-field antennas, such as radiation pattern and gain, both of which are vital for breast imaging. Two frequency bands exhibit negative permittivity: 3–3.3 GHz and 3.6–4.5 GHz. In the operating band, the proposed antennas have achieved a maximum gain of 5.5 dBi and impedance bandwidth of 3 GHz (2–5 GHz) with a reflection coefficient less than −10 dB. At the lowest operating frequency of 2 GHz, the electrical dimensions of this designed antenna are 0.34λ × 0.26λ × 0.01λ. All 16 transceiver antennas are arranged vertically in a circular pattern around the phantom, each acting as a transmitter and the rest as receivers. The system design is carried out with the electromagnetic simulators CST and HFSS. After receiving the extracted data, the data are postprocessed using the MATLAB software and the delay multiply and sum (DMAS) imaging algorithm. Based on the reconstructed image, it is evident that the MTM-loaded antenna-based imaging system can detect many undesired tumors inside the breast phantom.