The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation-Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project includes the development of a skin imaging device which addresses the current clinical need for an affordable imaging methodology that images the skin over its depth with sufficient resolutions while offering large contrasts between normal, malignant, and benign tissues. Such a device will be an invaluable assistance to dermatologists and dermatologic surgeons and significantly enhance the current state of skin cancer detection and management. The proposed system will be integrated in a single framework, resulting in a compact (handheld) and real-time imager at a low manufacturing cost. This will make the proposed technology comparable in cost to dermoscopic imaging, facilitating its widespread use and application. Such a device will be used by dermatologists and dermatologic surgeons prior to biopsy or tumor excision, facilitating the detection and removal of tumors. The developed product of a hand-held, real-time imaging tool will have huge commercial value and widespread applications. The medical imaging industry will greatly benefit from these integration procedures and the associated cost reductions. Furthermore, the proposed method could be used to develop portable imaging and sensing devices for a wide range of applications such as hydration sensing, blood glucose monitoring, monitoring of healing wounds (including skin burns and irritations), and dental caries detection.
The proposed project is focused on developing a fully-integrated ultra-wideband millimeter-wave imaging system for the first time, where no high-frequency or high-power external signal is required for the operation of the transceiver. This will be realized by employing the synthetic ultra-wideband imaging approach, where several disjointed, adjacent imaging sub-bands are integrated to collectively form an ultra-wide imaging bandwidth. Each sub-band contains a transceiver which operates only within that specific sub-band. The sub-band transceivers will be integrated on a single chip using the monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. The ultra-wide bandwidth of the proposed imager will result in significantly higher image resolutions compared to the state-of-the-art millimeter-wave imaging technology. This will enable the technology to be applied to biomedical setups, in particular skin imaging and skin cancer detection. The outcome of this proposal will be an affordable skin imaging device that visualizes tumor profiles over the depth of the skin with large histopathological-like contrasts.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
