Design and characterization of a broadband PCB-based coaxial sensor for permittivity screening in skin cancer detection applications

Abstract

Abstract Broadband dielectric spectroscopy is nowadays considered as a useful non-destructive detection tool for biomedical applications like glucose monitoring, hydration level measurement, and cancer tissue examination. Depending on their composition and physiological state, biological tissues have different dielectric characteristics. Studies on melanoma have revealed that the lesion site’s skin permittivity changes depending on the malignancy of the lesion. In that case, the complex permittivity of suspicious areas must therefore be imaged with spatial resolution consistent with the small dimensions of the pathology in order to correctly detect and characterize the lesion site. The variety of skin properties for various individuals and physiological situations (such as temperature and humidity), however, makes it difficult to build a sensitive sensor capable of detecting minor fluctuations in permittivity in every situation. In order to detect suspicious lesions in their early stage with a good agreement between simulated and measured results, this work proposes the design of a unique microwave sensor that can precisely detect small variations in cutaneous permittivity between 1 and 6 GHz.