Low-power RF breast health monitor

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The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that "about 1 in 9 Canadian women is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime and 1 in 30 will die from it". The chance of recovery is greatly improved if the cancer is diagnosed during its early stage. Currently, the standard breast cancer screening method is x-ray mammography. Its drawbacks include the use of ionizing radiation and painful scans. Over the past two decades, microwave technologies have been researched for their potential in breast cancer detection. The research group led by Prof. Popovich has developed a microwave-radar time-domain system; it was the first of its kind to reach clinical trials. This system offers advantages over the alternative, frequency-domain, including the potential for faster scan times and more cost-effective equipment solutions with smaller form-factor. The goal of this system is cost-effective, long-term, frequent (monthly) patient monitoring, allowing for timely observation of early-stage abnormality development. Prof. Popovich has engaged in a research agreement with Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) to further develop a wearable microwave breast cancer detection unit. ADI and its subsidiary Analog Devices (AD) Canada Ltd, is a world leader in the design and manufacture of analog, mixed-signal, and DSP integrated circuits used in electronic equipment. Their main areas of high-investment research include technologies for next generation electronics & sensors. AD Canada, Ltd employs over 70 engineers. The Toronto office, established in 1998, hosts a healthcare-focused team, which has only recently initiated a research avenue targeting microwave imaging. The outcomes of the research will benefit AD Canada through new and improved hardware design as well as algorithm development for the related signal-processing. Although the methods will be developed for the specific application of breast imaging, the principles will allow AD Canada's R&D group to grow and advance in the domain of microwave imaging, applicable to healthcare, security and non-destructive testing. We expect this to generate new jobs in Canada and yield a competitive advantage to AD Canada's operations. Researchers from AD Canada, ADI and McGill have been holding biweekly meetings to plan the project, and AD Canada has been involved in drafting the research proposal. The AD Canada and ADI experts have visited McGill for demonstrations of the current prototype. Through these interactions, the partners have agreed to develop the next-level practical system, focusing on the hardware and signal-processing aspects. Given the strong corporate and manufacturing presence of Analog Devices microwave imaging division in Canada, we are requesting that the cash and in-kind contributions from ADI's R&D Headquarters in Massachusetts for this project be considered eligible for a CRD project.