Search Results (11)

Breast cancer detection through non-invasive and accurate techniques remains a critical challenge in medical diagnostics. This study introduces a deep learning-based framework that leverages a microwave radar system equipped with an arc-shaped array of six antennas to estimate key tumor parameters, including position, size, and depth. This research begins with the evolutionary design of an ultra-wideband octagram ring patch antenna optimized for enhanced tumor detection sensitivity in directional near-field coupling scenarios. The antenna is fabricated and experimentally evaluated, with its performance validated through S-parameter measurements, far-field radiation characterization, and efficiency analysis to ensure effective signal propagation and interaction with breast tissue. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) distributions within breast tissues are comprehensively assessed, and power adjustment strategies are implemented to comply with electromagnetic exposure safety limits. The dataset for the deep learning model comprises simulated self and mutual S-parameters capturing tumor-induced variations over a broad frequency spectrum. A core innovation of this work is the development of the Attention-Based Feature Separation (ABFS) model, which dynamically identifies optimal frequency sub-bands and disentangles discriminative features tailored to each tumor parameter. A multi-branch neural network processes these features to achieve precise tumor localization and size estimation. Compared to conventional attention mechanisms, the proposed ABFS architecture demonstrates superior prediction accuracy and interpretability. The proposed approach achieves high estimation accuracy and computational efficiency in simulation studies, underscoring the promise of integrating deep learning with conformal microwave imaging for safe, effective, and non-invasive breast cancer detection. Full article

The ultra-wideband polarization converters have been of interest to researcher due to their demand in satellite communication and navigation systems. This paper presents an ultra-wideband reflective cross-polarization converter comprising a stair-shaped metasurface. By observation, the alleged structure allows the conversion of linearly polarized waves to orthogonal components, having a polarization conversion ratio of greater than 90% spread across the large frequency range of 12.94 to 16.54 GHz and 17.54 to 26 GHz. A highly efficient, ultra-high frequency polarization conversion is achieved by the utilization of strong electromagnetic resonance coupling between the upper and lower layers of the metasurface. Further, it is depicted that the polarization converter has a wide obliquity of incidence wave. Moreover, the simulation and measured results show a good match. The linear polarization converter is simple in design but is of high performance, and therefore, might be useful in satellite communication, imaging systems, and navigation systems. Full article

The ability to sense propagating electromagnetic plane waves based on their directions of arrival (DOAs) is fundamental to a range of radio frequency (RF) sensing, communications, and imaging applications. This paper introduces an algorithm for the wideband true time delay digital delay Vandermonde matrix (DVM), utilizing Thiran fractional delays that are useful for realizing RF sensors having multiple look DOA support. The digital DVM algorithm leverages sparse matrix factorization to yield multiple simultaneous RF beams for low-complexity sensing applications. Consequently, the proposed algorithm offers a reduction in circuit complexity for multi-beam digital wideband beamforming systems employing Thiran fractional delays. Unlike finite impulse response filter-based approaches which are wideband but of a high filter order, the Thiran filters trade usable bandwidth in favor of low-complexity circuits. The phase and group delay responses of Thiran filters with delays of a fractional sampling period will be demonstrated. Thiran filters show favorable results for sample delay blocks with a temporal oversampling factor of three. Thiran fractional delays of orders three and four are mapped to Xilinx FPGA RF-SoC technologies for evaluation. The preliminary results of the APF-based Thiran fractional delays on FPGA can potentially be used to realize DVM factorizations using application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology. Full article

In this paper, the design and optimization of a wideband THz metamaterial absorber (MMA) are proposed. By simulation, we reached four structures with absorptions higher than 50%, 70%, 80%, and 90%, with relative absorption bandwidths (RABWs) of 1.43, 1.29, 0.93, and 0.72, respectively. Terahertz absorbers can be used in many potential applications, such as in imaging, energy harvesting, scattering reduction, and thermal sensing. Our intended application was to use the optimal absorber on a thermal detector for detectivity over a wide THz range. Since broadband absorption in the range of 0.3 to 2 terahertz is considered for use in medical imaging, the MMA with more than 50% absorption in the range of 0.35-2.1 THz was selected. The designs were also intended to have the capability of being implemented on different devices, such as bolometers. The cost of the fabrication of the proposed absorber was also low because of the implementation of a single-layer MMA design and the utilization of affordable and more accessible materials and techniques. Our proposed structure had a minimum feature size of 3 μm, making the fabrication process convenient using the standard photolithography method as well. We used thin layers of nickel as the metal for both the single-layer pattern and ground layer, which were placed on the front and back sides of the structure, respectively. The nickel thin film layers were deposited using the sputtering technique and separated by a dielectric layer. The material chosen for the dielectric layer was SU8, which has proper electromagnetic properties and also good adhesion to nickel. Characterization of the fabricated absorber was performed using a terahertz spectroscopy system, and the experimental results verified the high absorption of the sample. Full article

The roots are a vital organ for plant growth and health. The opaque surrounding environment of the roots and the complicated growth process means that in situ and non-destructive root phenotyping face great challenges, which thus spur great research interests. The existing methods for root phenotyping are either unable to provide high-precision and high accuracy in situ detection, or they change the surrounding root environment and are destructive to root growth and health. Thus,we propose and develop an ultra-wideband microwave scanning method that uses time reversal to achieve in situ root phenotyping nondestructively. To verify the method’s feasibility, we studied an electromagnetic numerical model that simulates the transmission signal of two ultra-wideband microwave antennas. The simulated signal of roots with different shapes shows the proposed system’s capability to measure the root size in the soil. Experimental validations were conducted considering three sets of measurements with different sizes, numbers and locations, and the experimental results indicate that the developed imaging system was able to differentiate root sizes and numbers with high contrast. The reconstruction from both simulations and experimental measurements provided accurate size estimation of the carrots in the soil, which indicates the system’s potential for root imaging. Full article

The design of a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) ultra-wideband (UWB) RMS power sensor is presented. The sensor incorporates a microfabricated Fe-Co-B core planar inductor and a microfabricated vibrating diaphragm variable capacitor on adhesively bonded glass wafers in a footprint area of 970 × 970 µm² to operate in the 3.1–10.6 GHz UWB frequency range. When exposed to a far-field UWB electromagnetic radiation, the planar inductor acts as a loop antenna to generate a frequency-independent voltage across the MEMS capacitor. The voltage generates a coulombic attraction force between the diaphragm and backplate that deforms the diaphragm to change the capacitance. The frequency-independent capacitance change is sensed using a transimpedance amplifier to generate an output voltage. The sensor exhibits a linear capacitance change induced voltage relation and a calculated sensitivity of 4.5 aF/0.8 µA/m. The sensor can be used as a standalone UWB power sensor or as a 2D array for microwave-based biomedical diagnostic imaging applications or for non-contact material characterization. The device can easily be tailored for power sensing in other application areas such as, 5G, WiFi, and Internet-of-Things (IoT). The foreseen fabrication technique can rely on standard readily available microfabrication techniques. Full article

In this paper, a wideband-narrowband switchable tapered slot antenna (TSA) with a compact meander line resonator for an integrated microwave imaging and hyperthermia system was proposed. A compact meander line resonator, which exhibited band-pass characteristics and provided narrowband characteristics by using one PIN diode, was fabricated beneath the tapered slot of the wideband TSA to minimize the degradation of the wideband characteristics. Moreover, the electromagnetic energy was transferred to the meander line resonator with a coupling effect to ensure effective frequency switching. By adapting a PIN diode on the meander line resonator, frequency switching could be achieved. In this way, the proposed antenna could operate in a real-time frequency switching mode between the ultra-wideband (UWB; 3.1~10 GHz), which is used for microwave imaging, and the 2.45 GHz band (industrial, scientific, and medical, ISM band), which is used for microwave hyperthermia. Frequency and time-domain results proved the applicability of the proposed antenna to an integrated breast cancer detection and treatment system. Full article

The wideband electromagnetic imaging system using a parabolic reflector is a device for detecting and locating electromagnetic interference sources (EMIS). When multiple coherent interference sources are detected, the confusion will occur due to the coherent noise that is caused by interference phenomenons. Previous works have removed the coherent noise by using iterative techniques, but they face a limitation in removing noise in that the coherent noise pattern changes with frequency in a wideband. In this paper, an adaptive homomorphic filtering is proposed to overcome the limitations of conventional methods from 1 GHz–6 GHz. The coherent noise existing in the several electromagnetic images is studied, and it is confirmed that the variation of the coherent noise pattern is related to the position, the number, and the frequency of EMIS. Then, by analyzing the probability density of coherent noise intensity, an adaptive Gaussian filter is carefully designed to remove coherent noise. The filter parameters are selected by the minimum description length criterion (MDL) to apply to compute directly the local amount of Gaussian smoothing at each pixel of each image. The results of the experiments and simulations demonstrate that the proposed method can significantly improve the quality of electromagnetic images in terms of maximum sidelobe level (MSL) by 15 dB and dynamic range (DR) of the system over 20 dB, compared with conventional narrowband denoising methods. Full article

The ultra-wideband (UWB) multi-input multi-output (MIMO) radar technique is playing a more and more important role in the application of through-wall detection because of its high resolution, lower antenna requirements, and efficient data capturing ability. This paper develops a novel UWB MIMO radar system using a stepped-frequency continuous-wave (SFCW) signal, which is designed to detect human targets behind the regular brick and concrete wall. In order to balance high range resolution and wall-penetration depth, a novel miniaturized Vivaldi antenna with desired bandwidth of 0.5–2.5 GHz was designed, simulated, manufactured, and successfully used in through-wall imaging. To suppress the artifacts in the focused image and reduce the computing complexity, the cross-correlation-based time domain back projection (CC-TDBP) algorithm was developed. In addition, a through-wall imaging model was established, based on which the effects of the wall on the refraction of electromagnetic (EM) waves and the reduction of velocity are compensated. Finally, different experiments were conducted for multiple stationary targets utilizing the designed radar system, and the improved BP-based algorithms are applied to focus the targets behind the wall more accurately. The reconstructed two-dimensional (2D) images illustrate that the designed MIMO radar system can successfully detect and image human targets in the air and behind the wall. Full article

The identification and localization of large-range, wide-band electromagnetic interference (EMI) sources have always been both costly and time-consuming. The measurements at different times and places are often required before a typical system can locate a target. In this paper, we proposed a 2D electromagnetic imaging system to localize interference sources and identify the EMI frequency in real time. In this system, an offset paraboloid with a diameter of three meters is designed for large-range EMI imaging, while a multi-channel digital signal acquisition system is developed for wide-band EMI localization. The located interference source is segmented by the maximum entropy method based on particle swarm optimization, and the modified generalized regression neural network (MGRNN) is applied to identify the EMI frequency effectively by excluding misleading effects of outliers. The experiment which has been completed on our dataset indicates that our approach not only increases accuracy by 5% compared with the standard generalized regression neural network approaches for identification, but also exerts a large-range wide-band localization of the EMI source detection method. Full article

This study proposes a new parasitic resonator-based diamond-shaped microstrip patch antenna for ultra-wideband microwave imaging applications. The antenna consists of a diamond-shaped radiating patch, partial ground plane, and four-star shape parasitic elements. The use of parasitic elements improves the antenna performance in terms of the bandwidth and gain. The proposed prototype has a compact dimension of 30 × 25 × 1.6 mm³. The antenna achieves an overall bandwidth (S₁₁<-10dB) of 7.6 GHz (2.7–10.3 GHz) with more than 4 dBi realized gain and 80% efficiency across the radiating bandwidth. The modified structures of the design extended the usable upper frequency from 9.7 GHz to 10.3 GHz, and the lower frequency is decreased from 3.4 GHz to 2.7 GHz with maintaining the omnidirectional radiation pattern. The design and simulation of the antenna are performed in the 3D electromagnetic simulator CST Microwave Studio. The proposed antenna is used for breast phantom measurement system to analyze the variation of backscattering signal and transmit-received pulses. The observation during the analysis of the numerical and measured data reveals that the designed antenna is a suitable candidate for ultra-wideband (UWB)-based microwave imaging applications. Full article