FDTD Investigations into UWB Radar Technique of Breast Tumor Detection and Location

In this paper, a finite difference time domain (FDTD) method is applied to investigate capabilities of an ultrawide band (UWB) radar system to detect and locate a breast tumor. The first part of these investigations concerns a phantom formed by a circular cylindrical plastic container with liquid and a small highly reflecting target. In the second part, a three-dimensional numerical breast model is used to perform more advanced studies. In all of the carried out FDTD simulations, a quasi-plane wave is used as an incident wave. Various time snap shots of the electromagnetic field are recorded to learn about the physical phenomenon of reflection and scattering in different layers of the phantoms. The obtained results should form the ground for working out suitable guidelines for designing an optimal microwave breast imaging apparatus based on the UWB radar technique.