Development of a Coherent Model for Radiometric Core Body Temperature Sensing

This paper examines the utility of a wideband, physics-based model to determine human core body or brain temperature via microwave radiometry. Pennes's bioheat equation is applied to a six-layer human head model to generate the expected layered temperature profile during the development of a fever. The resulting temperature profile is fed into the forward electromagnetic (EM) model to determine the emitted brightness temperature at various points in time. To accurately retrieve physical temperature via radiometry, the utilized model must incorporate population variation statistics and cover a wide frequency band. The effect of human population variation on emitted brightness temperature is studied by varying the relevant thermal and EM parameters, and brightness temperature emissions are simulated from 0.1 MHz to 10 GHz. A Monte Carlo simulation combined with literature-derived statistical distributions for the thermal and EM parameters is performed to analyze population-level variation in resulting brightness temperature. Variation in thermal parameters affects the offset of the resulting brightness temperature signature, while EM parameter variation shifts the key maxima and minima of the signature. The layering of high and low permittivity layers creates these key maxima and minima via wave interference. This study is one of the first to apply a coherent model to and the first to examine the effect of population-representative variable distributions on radiometry for core temperature measurement. These results better inform the development of an on-body radiometer useful for core body temperature measurement across the human population.

Automated summary

This study examines the utility of a physics-based model for determining human core body or brain temperature using microwave radiometry. The results show that the model must incorporate population variation statistics and cover a wide frequency band to accurately retrieve physical temperature. Variation in thermal and electromagnetic parameters affects the emitted brightness temperature profile, and these variations can be analyzed using a Monte Carlo simulation. This study contributes to the development of an on-body radiometer for core temperature measurement across the human population.