Detection of Skin Abnormalities using a Highly Sensitive Planar Microstrip Probe

A planar microstrip probe at a frequency of 16 GHz is designed and simulated with various biological samples. In addition to its small size, non-contact nature, and direct coupling to tissue, the proposed sensor is able to couple high power with the tissue enabling abnormality detection with good sensitivity. Study of
$S_{11}$
parameter has been carried out for the presence of lipomas (fat masses) under the skin. Also, simulation results for basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and malignant melanoma (MM) type of skin abnormality are discussed. Between healthy and BCC skin tissue, an amplitude contrast of roughly 8 dB and frequency deviation of about 660 MHz is obtained. The results suggest that the proposed probe is simple to make and provides a economical method for detecting skin cancer quickly and accurately.