UWB microwave imaging for early breast cancer detection: effect of the coupling medium on resolution

The application of coupling medium in the UWB (ultra-wideband) microwave imaging of early breast cancer has been suggested in various schemes. Generally, the use of coupling medium makes antenna accurate positioning possible and reduces the strong reflection from the air-skin interface. It is shown that the cross-resolution of imaging is related to the dielectric properties of the coupling medium and the distance from probing antenna array to skin. Theoretical and simulation results show that the higher the dielectric constant of coupling medium, the nearer the distance from antenna array to skin, the higher the resolution.