| CPC A61B 5/05 (2013.01) [A61B 5/0042 (2013.01); A61B 5/0507 (2013.01); A61B 5/4064 (2013.01); A61B 5/6803 (2013.01); A61B 5/6814 (2013.01); H01Q 1/273 (2013.01); H01Q 21/065 (2013.01); A61B 2562/046 (2013.01)] | 16 Claims |
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1. A wearable antenna assembly for tomographic brain imaging of a subject, the antenna assembly including:
a resilient cap to be worn on the head of a subject whose brain is to be imaged;
an array of antennas at least partially embedded in the cap at respective mutually spaced locations such that, when the cap is worn by the subject, the antennas are arranged around the subject's brain;
wherein the cap has a multi-layered structure including a layer composed of graphite and aluminium oxide powders dispersed in poly-di-methyl-siloxane (PDMS) to improve the matching of dielectric properties with those of the subject's head.
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11. A method of determining the relative spatial locations and orientations of antennas of an array of antennas arranged around the head of a subject whose brain is to be imaged using electromagnetic signals transmitted by the antennas and scattered from the brain of the subject, the method including the steps of providing the wearable antenna assembly of claim 1; providing respective fiducial markers for the antennas; using a 3D imaging camera to automatically identify the fiducial markers, determine the spatial locations and orientations of the fiducial markers, and process those and data representing an outer surface of the subject's head to determine the orientations of the antennas relative to the subject's head and the distance of each antenna to the subject's head.
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12. A method of forming a wearable antenna assembly for tomographic brain imaging of a subject, the method including the steps of:
forming a resilient cap to be worn on the head of a subject whose brain is to be imaged, including at least partially embedding an array of antennas in the cap at respective mutually spaced locations such that, when the cap is worn by the subject, the antennas are arranged around the subject's brain; wherein the resilient cap has a multi-layered structure including a layer of a matching material composed of graphite and aluminium oxide powders dispersed in PDMS to improve the matching of dielectric properties with those of the subject's head.
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13. A method of forming a wearable antenna assembly for tomographic brain imaging of a subject, the method including the steps of:
forming a first layer of PDMS;
forming generally planar transceiving elements and respective generally planar ground planes;
arranging the transceiving elements on the PDMS layer at respective mutually spaced locations;
forming, over the transceiving elements and the first layer of PDMS, a layer of a matching material composed of graphite and aluminium oxide powders dispersed in PDMS to improve the matching of dielectric properties with those of the subject's head;
arranging the ground planes on the layer of matching material at respective mutually spaced locations aligned with the locations of the transceiving elements; and
forming a second layer of PDMS over the ground planes and the layer of matching material to encapsulate the ground planes;
wherein the resulting assembly is in the form of a resilient cap to be worn by a subject whose brain is to be imaged, the transceiving elements and respective ground planes form respective antennas embedded within the cap.
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