Low-Cost Microwave Imaging Portable Device for Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract This paper presents a Microwave Imaging apparatus for breast cancer detection, aiming at early diagnosis, an effective way of reducing mortality rates. In 2020, breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer cases worldwide, with more impact in low-income countries, which motivates seeking a non-invasive and affordable screening equipment. Focusing on low-cost and portability, a US$150.00 embedded hardware transceiver plus antennas platform has been picked out, together with the development of a dry-coupling silicone rubber bra hold by a handheld device. Initially, a losses study to analyze the hardware ability to detect malignant tumors depth in the breast was conducted. Next, simulations and tests employing the platform along with a breast phantom were carried out. This phantom mimics the dielectric breast tissue properties while a confocal algorithm was applied to backscattered signals to generate reconstructed images. Results established a correspondence between simulated and experimental data, SCR and SMR above 7.0 dB and 23.0 dB, respectively, in the resulting images and tumor location precision below 0.3 cm. Based on that, the low-cost portable proposed system results showed its ability as an adjunct early breast cancer diagnosis tool.