Investigations on Slotted Metamaterial Backed Wearable Antenna for Breast Tumor Detection

• Published in: Plasmonics (Norwell, Mass.) Mass.), 2024-06, Vol.19 (3), p.1499-1515
• Main Authors: Karthikeyan, T. A., Nesasudha, M., Let, G. Shine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antennas; Biochemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Biotechnology; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Metamaterials; Nanotechnology; Polydimethylsiloxane; Substrates; Thickness; Tumors; Variance analysis
• ISSN: 1557-1955; 1557-1963
• DOI: 10.1007/s11468-023-02085-4

A flexible slotted metamaterial backed microstrip (SMBM) antenna operating at 2.45 GHz is proposed in this article for breast tumor detection. The substrate used is flexible optically transparent polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with 1-mm thickness, and copper is used for conducting layer. The SMBM antenna consists of partial ground and metasurface unit cells. It is noted that with the addition of metamaterial layers in the antenna the bandwidth, reflection co-efficient got improved and the specific absorption rate (SAR) value is reduced. Two different kinds of phantoms are arranged: one is a skin phantom and the other is a breast phantom; the antenna of the flat and flexible condition is placed on the phantoms and the analysis is observed. The detection of tumors can be observed by the variance in the value of E-Field, H-Field, and J-Surf between the phantom has a tumor and no tumor. A notable amount of difference is obtained which represents the existence of a tumor. The antenna has the SAR value, which is less than 1.6 W/kg as per the guidance of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) standard. Alongside SAR, by utilizing metamaterial, the gain of the SMBM antenna is likewise improved and the efficiency of the SMBM is expanded with 67% (to 92%) by the consideration of metamaterial construction. The results of the fabricated antenna are analyzed, and comparisons are made with the simulated antenna.