Low SAR ultra compact UWB vivaldi non-uniform slot antennas for breast cancer detection

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the growing issues among women. Current UWB antennas utilized for Microwave Imaging (MI) present several limitations, such as resolution and penetration trade-offs, large dimensions of the antennas degrade patient comfort, and clutter in the received signal. To tackle these restrictions, this study presents the design, fabrication, and testing of ultra-compact Vivaldi antennas based on the new Vivaldi non-uniform slot profile antenna (VNSPA) theory. These antennas, with their significant slot length reductions of 50 % and 60 %, and circuit area reductions of 72.74 % (Antenna A) and 81.8 % (Antenna B), hold great promise for modern wireless communication and medical fields. Antenna A and B provide matching S11 values of less than -11.36 dB and -10.21 dB and peak gains of 5.9 dBi and 6 dBi through 2.63 – 12.33 GHz and 3.16 – 14.34 GHz, respectively. Although Antenna B is 30.58 % smaller than Antenna A, it provides 13.24 % bandwidth (BW) with a 1.7 % gain enhancement, highlighting the significance of the exponential nonuniform slot profile (ENSP) shape on the antenna's performance. Antenna B provides good Breast Cancer Detection (BCD) results through ultrawideband microwave imaging (UWB MI). The simulation in this work, which is performed using computer simulation technology (CST) software, agrees well with the practical results to prove the antenna's capabilities in detecting tumors in a breast. These results, like the directive stable radiation patterns and low specific absorption rate (SAR) values, ensure the proposed antennas are good candidates for modern wireless communication applications such as reader antennas in body area networks and high-resolution medical applications such as BCD.