Microwave Breast Phantom Measurement System With Compact Side Slotted Directional Antenna

In this paper, a new, complete, and comprehensive breast phantom measurement system is presented. A side slotted vivaldi antenna is used for breast phantom measurement. The radiating fins are modified by etching six side slots to enhance the electrical length and produce stronger directive radiation with higher gain. This approach reduces the lower operating frequency and increases the gain and efficiency without compromising the size of the antenna. The overall size of the antenna is 8.8 (L) x 7.5 (W) cm(2) or approximately 0.4 lambda x 0.5 lambda at the first resonant frequency of 1.79 GHz. The results show that the antenna has a fractional bandwidth of approximately 127% from 1.54 to 7 GHz for return loss less than 10 dB with a directional radiation pattern. The average gain of the proposed prototype is 8.5 dBi, and the radiation efficiency is approximately 92% on average over the operating bandwidth. The fidelity factor for face to face is 0.98, and that for side by side is 0.4479, which proves the directionality and lower distortion of the signal. The prototype is successfully simulated, fabricated, and analyzed. The radiating fins of the proposed prototype are optimized to achieve the desired properties for breast phantom measurement. The antenna is used as the transceiver in a breast phantom measurement system to detect unwanted tumor cells inside the breast. An automated electromechanical imaging system with the necessary data post processing makes it an easy and suitable tool for microwave imaging to detect breast tumors.