Performance Comparison of Image Reconstruction Algorithms in Microwave Imaging for Breast Cancer Screening

The image reconstruction algorithms are the fundamental component of a microwave imaging system. Since the inception of microwave imaging, much work has been accomplished for the development of different imaging reconstruction algorithms. In this paper, the performance of image reconstruction algorithms is evaluated and compared. The comparison between reconstruction algorithms is performed in terms of localization of the tumor and computational time. The Delay and Sum (DAS) beamformer is the simplest microwave imaging algorithm with real-time execution. The experimental results in the paper illustrate that DAS shows limited capabilities for suppressing the noise and the artifacts. Delay Multiply and Sum (DMAS) is the extended version of DAS and offers high contrast resolution (narrow beamformer) at the cost of high computational time. An alternative to DMAS is Fast Delay Multiply and Sum (FDMAS) that provides high resolution at the complexity equal to DAS. Moreover, interferometric multiple signal classification (I-MUSIC) is another efficient method that requires low bandwidth for operating and has a better execution time. The results retrieved from experimental data show that FDMAS and I-MUSIC outperform other algorithms with better resolution in less time.