| This thesis presented a parametric study of microwave breast cancer detection and imaging with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. FDTD is one of the most widely used numerical modeling techniques to simulate electromagnetic wave propagation and interactions in biological tissues. The inhomogeneous breast tissue model with various microwave pulse widths/frequencies, tumor locations, materials dielectric properties and tissue compositions were systematically investigated in this work. The different scattering signal contrast due to the property differences among fatty, normal glandular, malignant and benign tissues in our study not only confirms the feasibility of detecting the breast cancer using microwave energy that has been extensively studied, but also serves as a valuable model-based tool for microwave sensing optimization and system development. |
