What is Microwave Imaging?
The basic principle of the technology is that microwaves travel from a source through the object of interest and are detected by a receiver located on the opposite side. A change occurs in the waves traveling through the object of interest if they pass through a fracture; in such cases, the incident wave is scattered. This strongly affects the amount of incident wave energy at the receiver. From there, an algorithm will process those changes and spit out an image that is contrasting in different colors representing intensities. From those images, the probability that a fracture is present is calculated via the usage of a procedure similar to osteoporotic screening.
Microwave imaging has the competitive advantage of very short frame rates/time resolution (within ms). The use of electromagnetic energy in the microwave frequency range is particularly attractive because it balances the competing requirements for resolution and penetration depth. Emerging ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna technology has some unique features. Following from microwave imaging’s success in breast cancer detection, we believe that there is a good possibility in using microwave imaging for stress fractures.
Advantages
- High-speed data rates
- Very small interference
- Simple low-cost designs
- Low power spectrum density
- Higher precision ranges