A novel small printed ultra-wideband antenna for near-field imaging

Abstract

Ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas have been suggested recently for use in near field imaging systems. A small printed antenna is introduced with L-shaped reduced ground-plane to achieve UWB characteristics. The ground is optimized to allow reconfiguration of the inspection system to various operation sub-bands. Design and optimization of antenna characteristics including matching and bandwidth are performed using FDTD computational modeling of the antenna in free space as well as in the proximity to human head phantom. Effect of tumor model is investigated on field map values. Experimental validation of antenna characteristics is studied using human brain simulating liquid, and implementing a six-degree-of-freedom robot to control the scanning of the measurement sensors. Results of this research should help enhance UWB systems as promising nondestructive and noninvasive imaging tools. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.