Vivaldi antenna design and application for performance of breast cancer determination

Cancer cells accumulate to form tumors. Tumors can be benign and malignant. Benign tumors are not cancerous and often do not repeat and do not spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumors are cancerous and they grow irregularly. Cancer cell tumors can compress, infiltrate or destroy normal tissues. If cancer cells are separated from the tumor from which they are formed, they can spread to other parts of the body through blood or lymph circulation. They continue to grow by forming tumor colonies where they spread. Today, the most common types of cancer are skin, lung, breast, digestive and reproductive system cancers. There are many methods of identifying malignant tumor tissues and therefore cancer. These methods include blood count, biochemical analysis, x-ray examinations, radioisotope scans, endoscopy, ultrasonography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, cytology, biopsy and histopathological diagnosis, microwave tomography. Among the types of cancer, breast cancer is the most common and the most important type of early diagnosis for treatment. Breast cancer can have fatal consequences for many women if not treated appropriately. Therefore, early diagnosis is very important. Existing methods may not always give accurate results. For example; 4% to 34% of all breast cancers are poor, and cancerous tissues may not be detected due to contrast problems and the like. The microwave-based approach to early diagnosis is to collect and evaluate the reflected signals by sending signals to the chest. This requires a well-designed antenna with good performance. Signals are altered by reflections from skin, natural changes in tissue composition within the breast, and all tumors present. The purpose of this radar-based imaging is to distinguish the reflections caused by tumors from other reflections in the signals. In this study, a broadband" VIVALDI" antenna was developed for breast cancer diagnosis and performance of tumor tissues. In this study, both the design and the application of the antenna were realized. For the application, the ultra-wideband (UWB) VIVALDI antenna design was made using the high frequency electromagnetic field simulation (HFSS) program. For the performance of VIVALDI antenna, 6 different antennas with different dielectric base material thickness were designed by opening different patches in different sizes. FR4 dielectric base material with dielectric constant (εr) 4.4, tangent loss (δ) 0.025 and thickness (h) 0.8-1.6-2 mm were used in the designed antennas. The design and simulations of the antennas were realized using the Ansoft HFSS (High Frequency Structure Simulator) simulation program. Tumor detection was made by determining the differences between the electric field (E-Field), magnetic field (H-Field), current density (J) and Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) values in tumor and tumor free states. In order to determine the performance of the antennas, the fixed wave ratio (VSWR), gain (G) and return loss (S11-Return Loss) parameters were determined for the frequencies studied. Antenna performance results were evaluated, and it was concluded that it can be used for breast cancer detection.