Design and analysis of textile antenna for the early detection of breast cancer

Worldwide, breast cancer is the primary cause of deaths in women. Because of the restrictions of current clinical imaging techniques, such as mammography, ultrasound scanning, and magnetic resonance scanning, as well as harmful radiation, which is expensive and a hindrance to patients, researchers have been motivated to investigate alternate methods, including the use of microwave components, to detect breast tumors in the early stages. This study is focused on the implementation of an antenna for the detection of small tumors using a novel material as a substrate at an operating frequency of 2.42 GHz. The material utilized is a textile fabric woven using a plain pattern of jute thread with cotton threads. The proposed antenna has overall dimensions of 50 mm × 62 mm × 0.71 mm ³ and demonstrates a peak gain of 3.56 dBi, with a radiation efficiency exceeding 70% throughout the operating band. Breast models with and without tumor cells with tumor radii of 2, 3, and 5 mm were designed using Computer Simulation Technology software. The designed antenna was placed on breast models with and without tumors and simulated. The return loss, gain, current density, E -field, and H -field distributions exhibited deviations when the antenna was placed on the breast model with a tumor. However, the specific absorption rate (<1 W/kg) did not exceed the standard limit. The antenna was fabricated and measured using a vector network analyzer. The measured results show that the return loss value (−22.3 dB) was close to the simulated value (−26.3 dB).