Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Smart Systems (ICAIS-2021)

IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP21OAB-ART; ISBN: 978-1-7281-9537-7

Design of microwave wideband antenna for brain

tumor imaging applications
2021 International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Smart Systems (ICAIS) | 978-1-7281-9537-7/20/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICAIS50930.2021.9396000

Balamurugan Velan1 ,L.Jegan Antony Marcilin2 , I.Rexiline Sheeba 3 , Sugadev Mani4 , Mani,Mary Sajin Sanju5
School of Electrical and Electronics
Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology
Old Mamallapuram Road, Chennai-600119
vbbala@gmail.com, jegan25@hotmail.com,sheebarexlin@g mail.com,Sugadev74@g mail.co m, sanjujeen@yahoo.com

Abstract-Head imaging technique plays a vital role in the detection selected depends upon the application. The frequency band
of an affected brain, such as strokes cancerous tu mours caused by used for brain tumo r detection caused by trauma is1–3GHZ. It
trauma. Cu rrent systems require the patient to be transported to the provides a penetration of the waves into the human head and
imaging device which increases the time tak en to apply treatments, provides high resolution image of the tumor.
which leads to the patient’s conditions to be worsen. The antenna is
designed in 3-D dimension with a wideband and unidirectional
A neatly packed patch antenna is used for human head
properties. The lower microwave frequencies are used in the imaging applicat ion. It is wideband, unidirectional antenna
antenna to detect size, location and intensity of the tumour.Existing and folding technique is used to achieve resonant frequency
techniques such as MRI,X-ray,CT Scan which has more radiation for brain tumo r analysis. The three dimensional wide band
which harm the tissues. The system utilizes combination of a antennas consists ofvarious shapes of patches and shoring wall
software defined and solidsta te switching network to collect the that is extended up to ground plane of the antenna.
imaging data. It can captu re the input signals, which is suitable for
detecting realistic brain deficiency. This microwave imaging
technique will not harm the tissues. The concept has been validated
through experimental data collection in image generation, and is
capable of capturing images in less than a minute. A simplified
head phantom was developed gathering the data and proved that
the system was capable of locating targets with dielectric properties
similar to brain tumors and bleeds.
Keywords—Microwave, Brain tumor,Image Processing, Head
Imaging.MRI.

I. INTRODUCTION
Brain tu mor is a mass growth of abnormal cells of the
brain. It ru ins life of the people where treat ment for the tumor Figure 1. MRI images of Brain
(Top row-Without tumor and bottom row-With tumor),
becomes very difficult and the equip ment is very precious and
cause so, many side effects. The present imaging techniques
The antenna is the key element in the analysis of brain tu mor
like Co mputed tomography(CT) and Magnetic resonance
and to penetrate microwave signals into the human skull. The
imaging(M RI), shown in figure 1, used for tumor detection
threedimensional wide band antenna converts electrical signals
creates lots of disturbance to the patient and the radiation
in to electro- magnetic signals and results in providing
intensity is more on the body. The number of brain tu mor
micro wave rad iations for these med ical applicat ions. The
cases around the world is increasing at an alarming rate, with
resonant frequency used for head imaging is 2.65 to 2.91
more than 700,000 affected people liv ing in the US and 80,000
GHZ. The entire antenna is made up of copper. Since, it is
people diagnosed for brain tu mor in 2020 alone. Though in
less in cost and has higher conductivity (100) co mpared to
India, the number of brain tu mor cases are lo w, it could
alu minu m (45) and steel (3-15). More of the RF energy will
increase in the near future due to change in food habits and life
get excited, not be trapped creating heat energy. More efficient
style[15].
radiation also means that you can run higher powers with the
Microwaves widely used in various medical applications.
copper compared to other materials
Most commonly microwave energy is used to create localized
dielectric heating in order to desiccate human tissue known as
II. PROPOSED ANTENNAFOR TUM OR
micro wave ablat ion. M icrowaves play a crucial role in shape
DETECTION
against cancer providing a new way of treating a disease. It is
used to detect the tumors of the body by Specific absorption
Coaxial feeding is chosen, since, it provides direct connection
rate (SA R) and used to find the size and intensity of the tumor.
between patch and the ground through the substrate, according
The major advantages of microwaves is flexibility with wide
to the position and structure of the patch. The entire structure
ranges of frequencies(1-300GHZ) and these frequencies are

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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Smart Systems (ICAIS-2021)
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP21OAB-ART; ISBN: 978-1-7281-9537-7

of the patch antenna is built on the ground plane which is in excitation of micro waves. The resonance frequency for the
rectangular shape. The coaxial probe consists of two cylinders; 3D structure of antenna is calculated using the equation;
[1] Inner cylinder (inner rad ius 0.1, outer radius 0.2), [2] Outer
஼
cylinder (inner radius 0.4, outer rad ius 0.5). The antenna is Fr= (1)
௅ඥଶఌ ೝ ାଵ
fed with micro waves through the cylinders of the co- axial
probe, it is used as a transmission line to carry microwave
signals to the entire patch antenna. where;C - Speed of a light,
Copper is the element wh ich is lossy metal (Type) used in the L - Length of the upper patch
design of ground plane, coaxial probe, and structured patch. It ᆅr– Permittivity of the substrate
has electrical conductivity 5.96e + 007[s/ m], thermal Fr– Resonant frequency
conductivity 401 [W/K/ m], Heat capacity 0.39 [kJ/ K/kg],
Diffusivity 0.000115141 [m^2/s], Young’s modulus 120 [k III. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
N/ mm62], Po isson’s ratio 0.33, thermal expansion 17 [1 e-6/k]
The proposed antenna design results obtained with phantom models
and mass density 8930 [kg/ m^3], which y ields good results for
with and without tumor are discussed in this section. A phantom is
the proposed antenna. The ground plane is rectangular in
created in simulation module and analysis is done by the
shape having the length of 80mm and width of 80mm. It acts
unidirectional, wideband antenna to find whether the tumor is
as a conductive surface and gives support to the structured
present or not. Voltage standing wave ratio is a measure of
patch antenna. It is 2D in shape and provides connection
efficiency of antenna. If impedance matching is not perfectly
between patch and the co-axial feeding path.
done between source and transmission line, results in
generation of standing waves. The proposed antenna of
VSW R value is 1.03 (which is less than 1.2). If VSWR value
greater than 1.2 may cause reflections. The designed antenna
VSWR is 1.03 at 2.55 GHZ which avoid reflections.

Figure2. Configuration of the proposed antenna structure (3-D view)

This work focused on a rectangular patch antenna with a

coaxial probe feed to achieve resonance at lower microwave
frequency. A rectangular shape patch antenna is introduced to
reduce the effect o f folding. The d imensional parameters of
the proposed antenna design are given in table 1. The Figure 3. Voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR)
dimensions of L and W are obtained by us ing transmission
line model design equations for standard rectangular patch for Return loss represents the scattering of waves, lower the return
2.5GHz and other dimensions are deduced by trials. loss has the higher gain, directivity, greater efficiency of
antenna. The proposed antenna has a return loss of -37.7 d B
TABLE 1. De sign parameters in centimeters (cm) which avoids maximu m reflection and give maximu m power
to the antenna. The figure4represents the return loss of the
L W a B c d E antenna.
8.0 8.0 2.5 2.0 0.45 0.6 0.3

The upper patch is rectangular in shape and connected to the

U-shaped lower patch through copper folding to achieve
desired performance, Perfect impedance matching and reduced
spurious radiation is achieved. A shorting wall is extended
with the g round plane of the antenna to reduce the overall size
of the antenna, which makes the antenna to resonate at lower
micro wave frequency. Passive coupling is done between the
co-axial probe and the lower patch antenna for radiation
excitation (figure 2).
Air is the substrate for entire antenna which has the relative Figure 4. Return loss
permittiv ity of exact ly 1. The antenna radiates the air fo r the Gain and directivity are the very important parameters of
antenna to radiate waves effectively in the desired direction.

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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Smart Systems (ICAIS-2021)
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP21OAB-ART; ISBN: 978-1-7281-9537-7

Gain is the capability of antenna to radiate more power in any

direction. The gain of the antenna should be greater than one The proposed antenna far field representation consists of main
for the effect ive radio waves transmission. The conceived lobe magnitude 4.17 dB, main lobe direction 0.0 deg, angular
antenna of far field gain is 1.570 d B which doubles the amount width 38.7 deg, side lobe magnitude -2.4 d B. Here fro m the
of effective power. The Figure5 (a) and (b) represents the above values the main lobe magnitude describes the direction
Cartesian and polar plots of the far field gain. of maximu m radiation and majority of rad iated power where
as side lobe level represents radiation outside the main lobe.
The blue lines of Figure 6 represent half power beam width of
the main lobe which is effective radiated power trans mitted.
Due to its high directivity and gain of the high directivity and
gain the antenna radiates most of the input power at the
required frequency. The designed antenna is 3D in shape and
compact in size.
CST is a simulat ion technology used to analyze brain
tumor by creating the phantom model for obtaining accurate
results. The phantom is created in two models: (i) brain
without tumor (ii) brain with tu mor for analy zing the brain
(a) tumor. The below Figure: 7(a) &7(b) represents the phantom
of with and without tumor.

(b)

Figure 5 (a) C rtesian gain plot(b) Polar Far field gain

Figure 7. (a) Brain without tumor (b) With tumor
Directivity is one of the important parameters of the conceived
antenna for brain tu mor detection and analysis. It increases the The designed antenna is placed near the phantom to redirect
power intensity at the specified location and provides more the microwaves in to the brain tumor for analysis.
power in its peak direct ion. The directivity of designed TABLE 2. Permittivity And Electrical Conductivity of Brain
antenna is 4.168 d B. It sends 4.168 times the power to the
required location. Source Permittivity Electrical Conductivity
Cerebellum 8.98E+1 7.90E-1
Brain
(Gray 8.01E+1 5.59E-1
Matter)
Brain
(White 5.69E+1 3.24E-1
Matter)

The above table shows the permittivity and electrical

conductivity of the brain for analyzing the brain tumor.

Figure 6. Cartesian and polar Directivity plot

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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Smart Systems (ICAIS-2021)
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Figure 8. placing of antenna near the phantom tumor present, but in the second representation the scattering
The conceived antenna radiates by the ports penetrates waves of waves is mo re because the tumor present and absorption is
in to the brain to find whether tumo r is present or not. The directly proportion to brain weight.
figure8 represent the placing of antenna near to the phantom. The Analysis of brain tumor is mainly done with the
The analysis is done by the concept of specific absorption rate SAR(specific absorption rate) results. These results include
which defines the power absorbed by the tissue when exposed absorbed power, Tissue volume, Tissue power, average power,
to electro-magnetic rad iation. The specific absorption rate total SAR, maximu m power. All this values are calcu lated by
(SAR) value specifies the intensity and size of the tumor. If the conceived antenna on the ten grams phantom that is
the tumor is large in size the absorption is very hig h and created in CST simulation.
higher in the SAR value. If the tumor is less in size the The analysis is done in two ways (I) when tu mor is present
absorption is less in size and lesser in the SA R value. Thus the (II) when tumor is not present. The above mentioned values
brain tu mor analysis is done by absorption rate of the normal are different for both the analysis especially maximu m SA R
human brain to find whether tumor is present or not. which clearly indicates the occurrence or in occurrence of the
The permittivity and electrical conductivity of are the tumor as given in figure 11a and 11b.
very required parameters for brain tu mor analysis. The
antenna placed near the phantom is fed with micro waves for
antenna excitation. The radiate waves penetrate in to the skull
since the frequency of micro waves is high. The penetrated
waves absorbed by the brain tumor and that SAR value is
noted with the known values of permittiv ity and conductivity.
The Figure 9 and 10 shows the two scattering of waves (9)
when the brain tu mor is present and (10) when the bra in tu mor
is not present.

Figure 11. (a) SAR results without tumor

Figure 9. scatte ring of waves when brain tumor is not present

Figure 10. scatte ring of waves when brain tumor is present Figure 11. (b) SAR results when brain tumor is present

The scattering, absorption of the waves is different in the Specific absorption rate has the unit of W/Kg which is directly
proportional to the watt (power absorption) that indicates brain
both the cases. Since, in the second case the scattering and
with tumo r increase the absorption which results in increasing
absorption is more because of the brain tumo r. The tu mor
present in the makes the brain to increase in its weight the SAR value. That clearly shows the brain without tumor
have the lowest value (0.000196644 for proposed antenna) and
therefore the absorption and scattering of waves which tells
brain with tu mor have highest value (0.00470878 for proposed
the occurrence, size and intensity of the brain tu mor. In the
first representation scattering of waves because of the no antenna), clearly tells whether tumor is present or not. Th at is
how the tu mor in brain is detected. These results are

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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Smart Systems (ICAIS-2021)
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