Planar Array of Corrugated Tapered Slot Antennas for Ultrawideband Biomedical Microwave Imaging System

摘要

A planar antenna array that includes 12 corrugated tapered slot elements for use in ultrawideband (UWB) biomedical microwave imaging systems is presented. The used corrugate tapered slot antenna has a compact size, low profile, moderate gain, and distortionless performance in the time domain. The array is immersed in a carefully designed matching liquid of suitable dielectric constant to improve the matching between the array and the imaged object, and thus, to increase the dynamic range of the imaging system. A suitable platform is designed and fabricated to accommodate the array, breast phantom, and a coupling liquid for the case of UWB breast imaging. The design of the whole system is optimized using trust-region framework method in the simulation tool CST Microwave Studio. The performance of the designed array is confirmed via measurements in a realistic imaging environment.