Elliptical monopole antenna design for the early breast cancer imaging at high frequencies

This paper presents a design of an ultra-wideband, slotted, elliptical monopole antenna for breast cancer imaging. The antenna has a compact size of 9 mm x 7 mm to cover the frequency range from 16 to 24 GHz. Its operation is optimized to direct contact with the patient breast's skin without any coupling medium. On top of that, the antenna also features as an electrode for the electrical impedance tomography (EIT) applications. Experimental results on a female volunteer's breast verify the excellent microwave performance of the antenna. In addition, the results also indicate the reliability of the breast tissues models, which were used in the simulation. Finally, a simple EIT measurement setup also demonstrates the multi-functional detection capabilities from the antenna element.