Fracture Detection Using A Wideband Wearable Monopole Antenna Based on Microwave Imaging

This paper introduces a simple and efficient Microwave Imaging (MWI) setup for detecting fractures in superficial bones, specifically in the tibia. This setup holds promise for the use by first-responders in swiftly assessing fractures in emergency scenarios where X-ray equipment may not be readily available or recommended. The key component of this setup is a single wearable monopole antenna, employed to linearly scan the bone across an ultra-wideband frequency range of 8.5 GHz (3.5-12 GHz), with a maximum gain of 5.7 dBi and an efficiency of more than 90%. The antenna system is designed to fit the human body shape without experiencing any performance degradation as compared to the conventional planar antenna counterpart. The practicality of the proposed antenna is demonstrated through simulations involving a bone model, wherein the distribution of electric fields (E-fields) inside the bone is examined. The reconstructed images resulting from these simulations underscore the potential of this conceptual model as a portable platform for efficiently detecting and pinpointing 1 mm fractures within bones by utilizing the extracted field distributions at 4.7 GHz and at 7.9 GHz.