Electromagnetic characterization of electrically small piezoelectric antennas and waveguiding devices for detection of cancer-related anomalies in biological tissues

The development of innovative and efficient electromagnetic techniques for non-invasive detection of malignancies in biological tissues is an important research topic for both the academic and industrial communities. In this paper, an extensive study on the electromagnetic characterization of electrically small antennas for detection of cancer-related anomalies is presented. In particular, after a thorough overview on the currently available medical approaches used to tackle the mentioned problem, non-invasive and minimally invasive sensing approaches based on the use of electrically small antenna sensors are discussed. The radiation properties of the considered micrometer antennas are accurately investigated by using dedicated locally conformal finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) and finite element method (FEM) modeling tools. The developed locally conformal FDTD procedure is based on the definition of effective material parameters accounting for the local electrical and geometrical properties of the structure under analysis. In this way, an enhanced numerical accuracy can be achieved over the conventional stair-case modeling approach. On the other hand, the adopted FEM tool is suitable for the accurate near- and far-field analysis of micrometer devices such as photonic crystals. The proposed study is aimed at the evaluation of cancer-risk levels and definition of detection criteria by means of theoretical approaches. Some examples of tailored wireless telemetry systems based on electrically small antennas are presented in the paper, and the relevant technology, manufacturing and circuital aspects discussed in detail. © 2013 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.