Synthetic Pulse based on SFCW Modulation: a Proposition for Microwave Imaging

This paper presents an Ultra Wideband (UWB) synthetic pulse implementation based on Stepped Frequency Continuous Wave signal modulation aiming at short-range imaging. Microwave imaging is a promising modality for human abnormalities screening and detection, such as women's breast cancer. It takes advantage of the different electromagnetic wave reflectivity between healthy and unhealthy tissues, providing some benefits against other modalities. A UWB signal must be employed for high imaging resolution seeking to cope with millimeter targets. The synthetic pulse is a method to achieve high resolution employing a set of narrowband radio frequency signals. It was implemented and simulated over a target of 14.0 mm inside a modeled woman's breast. The results, which motivate further investigation, are here presented and discussed. Besides that, the BladeRF, a low-cost Software Defined Radio, was used to perform a practical experiment, which posed many challenges to be overcome to develop a system.