Compact Reflectometers for a Wideband Microwave Breast Cancer Detection System

The design of compact wideband microwave reflectometers for the purpose of inclusion in a breast cancer detection system is presented. In this system, a wideband frequency source is used to synthesize a narrow pulse via the step-frequency synthesis method. The reflectometer undertakes measurements in the frequency domain and the collected data is transformed to the time/space domain using IFFT. In order to accomplish reflection coefficient measurements over a large frequency band, compact wideband couplers and power dividers are used to form the reflectometer. Two compact six-port reflectometer configurations are investigated. One uses the Lange coupler and the Gysel power divider and the other one employs a 3dB slot-coupled microstrip coupler and a 2-stage Wilkinson power divider. The reflectometer employing the slot-coupled coupler and the Wilkinson divider provides a wider operational bandwidth, as shown by simulation results performed with Agilent ADS.