Microwave-based examination using hypothesis testing
First Claim
1. A microwave system for examining an object comprising:
- (a) an array of antennas for radiating and receiving microwaves;
(b) a microwave source connected to the array of antennas to provide microwave signals of a selected bandwidth to the antennas;
(c) a receiver connected to the antennas to detect the microwave signals received by the antennas and provide signal data corresponding thereto; and
(d) a computer connected to receive the signal data, the computer programmed to process the signal data to form a space-time vector of signal data from each antenna for a candidate location, to determine a test statistic for the candidate location as the ratio of the sample variances under the two hypotheses of scatterer or no scatterer at the candidate location, to compare the test statistic with a selected threshold and assign a null hypothesis value to the selected location if the test statistic is below the threshold and to assign the test statistic value to the candidate location if the statistic is above the threshold, and to repeat the process for a plurality of different candidate locations in the object to be examined to generate multi-dimensional output data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Microwave examination of individuals is carried out by transmitting microwave signals from multiple antenna locations into an individual and receiving the backscattered microwave signals at multiple antenna locations to provide received signals from the antennas. The received signals are processed to remove the skin interface reflection component of the signal and the corrected signal data are provided to a hypothesis testing process. In hypothesis testing for detecting tumors, image data are formed from the test statistic used to perform a binary hypothesis test at each voxel. The null hypothesis asserts that no tumor is present at a candidate voxel location. The voxel threshold is determined by specifying a false discovery rate to control the expected proportion of false positives in the image. When the test statistic value associated with a voxel is greater than the threshold, the null hypothesis is rejected and the test statistic is assigned to the voxel. For voxels where the test statistic falls below the threshold, the null hypothesis is accepted and the voxel value is set to zero. The resulting image indicates the locations or other characteristics of detected tumors.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A microwave system for examining an object comprising:
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(a) an array of antennas for radiating and receiving microwaves;
(b) a microwave source connected to the array of antennas to provide microwave signals of a selected bandwidth to the antennas;
(c) a receiver connected to the antennas to detect the microwave signals received by the antennas and provide signal data corresponding thereto; and
(d) a computer connected to receive the signal data, the computer programmed to process the signal data to form a space-time vector of signal data from each antenna for a candidate location, to determine a test statistic for the candidate location as the ratio of the sample variances under the two hypotheses of scatterer or no scatterer at the candidate location, to compare the test statistic with a selected threshold and assign a null hypothesis value to the selected location if the test statistic is below the threshold and to assign the test statistic value to the candidate location if the statistic is above the threshold, and to repeat the process for a plurality of different candidate locations in the object to be examined to generate multi-dimensional output data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of carrying out microwave examination of an individual comprising:
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(a) transmitting microwave signals from a plurality of antenna locations into an individual to be examined;
(b) receiving backscattered microwave signals at a plurality of antenna locations to provide received signals from the plurality of antenna locations;
(c) processing the received signals in a computer to form a space-time vector of signal data from each antenna for a candidate location, determining a test statistic for the candidate location as the ratio of the sample variances under the two hypotheses of scatterer or no scatterer at the candidate location, comparing the test statistic with a selected threshold and assigning a null hypothesis value to the candidate location if the test statistic is below the threshold and assigning the test statistic value to the candidate location if the statistic is above the threshold; and
(d) then scanning the process to a plurality of different candidate locations in the individual and repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) at each candidate location to generate multi-dimensional output data. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A microwave system for examining an object comprising:
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(a) an array of antennas for radiating and receiving microwaves;
(b) a microwave source connected to the array of antennas to provide microwave signals of a selected bandwidth to the antennas;
(c) a receiver connected to the antennas to detect the microwave signals received by the antennas and provide signal data corresponding thereto; and
(d) a computer connected to receive the signal data, the computer programmed to process the signal data to form a space-time vector of signal data from each antenna for a candidate location, to determine a generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) statistic for the candidate location as the ratio of the sample variances under the two hypotheses of a scatterer having a selected characteristic or no scatterer having the selected characteristics at the candidate location and to repeat the process for a plurality of different candidate locations in the object to be examined to generate multi-dimensional output data. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method of carrying out microwave examination of an individual comprising:
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(a) transmitting microwave signals from a plurality of antenna locations into an individual to be examined;
(b) receiving backscattered microwave signals at a plurality of antenna locations to provide received signals from the plurality of antenna locations;
(c) processing the received signals in a computer to form a space-time vector of signal data from each antenna for a candidate location, determining a generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) statistic for the candidate location as the ratio of the sample variances under the two hypotheses of scatterer having a selected characteristic or no scatterer having the selected characteristic at the candidate location; and
(d) then scanning the process to a plurality of different candidate locations in the individual and repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) at each candidate location to generate multi-dimensional output data. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification