Assessment of a Brain Stroke Microwave Scanner Based on Off-the-Shelf Solid-State Switching

This work presents the preliminary experimental validation of an updated device for brain stroke imaging using an off-the-shelf solid-state-based switching network interfacing with a four-port transceiver system with twenty-two radiating elements. These are custom-made wearable antennas placed around the head. The testing consists of an in-lab simulated, simplified hemorrhage condition mimicked with realistic anthropomorphic phantoms. The system showcases its proficiency for real-time tracking of the stroke evolution via 3-D contrast dielectric maps. It employs multi-view and single-frequency data collected at 1 GHz, processed with a differential linear inversion imaging algorithm based on the distorted Born approximation and truncated singular value decomposition (TSVD). The study outcomes verify the imaging capabilities of the system. They are a crucial milestone toward implementing a low-complexity, compact, portable microwave scanner for brain stroke imaging to monitor stroke evolution in clinical scenarios.