Performance and robustness of a multistatic mist beamforming algorithm for breast cancer detection

Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radar is one of the most promising emerging technologies for the early detection of breast cancer, and the development of robust beamforming algorithms for imaging has been the subject of a significant amount of research. Extending the monostatic Microwave Imaging via Space Time (MIST) beamformer originally developed by Bond et al., the authors proposed the Multistatic MIST beamforming algorithm that uses the spatial diversity of the receiving antennas to acquire more energy reflected from dielectric scatterers which propagate outwards via different routes, while compensating for multistatic path-dependent attenuation and phase effects. In this paper, the performance and robustness of the Multistatic MIST beamformer is examined across a range of potential clinical scenarios. The multistatic beamformer is directly compared with the traditional monostatic beamformer and the effects of the additional multistatic channels is investigated. Furthermore, the robustness of the beamformer with respect to tumor size and location, variations in dielectric properties, and significantly, different fibroglandular tissue distributions within the breast based on recently published data, is examined