In this paper, the differences between air probe and filled probe for measuring high-frequency dielectric properties of biological tissues are investigated based on the equivalent circuit model to provide a reference for the methodology of high-frequency measurement of biological tissue dielectric properties. Two types of probes were used to measure different concentrations of NaCl solution in the frequency band of 100 MHz–2 GHz. The results showed that the accuracy and reliability of the calculated results of the air probe were lower than that of the filled probe, especially the dielectric coefficient of the measured material, and the higher the concentration of NaCl solution, the higher the error. By laminating the probe terminal, liquid intrusion could be prevented, to a certain extent, to improve the accuracy of measurement. However, as the frequency decreased, the influence of the film on the measurement increased and the measurement accuracy decreased. The results of the study show that the air probe, despite its simple dimensional design and easy calibration, differs from the conventional equivalent circuit model in actual measurements, and the model needs to be re-corrected for actual use. The filled probe matches the equivalent circuit model better, and therefore has better measurement accuracy and reliability.
This study aims to propose a multifrequency time-difference algorithm using spectral constraints. Based on the knowledge of tissue spectrum in the imaging domain, the fraction model was used in conjunction with the finite element method (FEM) to approximate a conductivity distribution. Then a frequency independent parameter (volume or area fraction change) was reconstructed which made it possible to simultaneously employ multifrequency time-difference boundary voltage data and then reduce the degrees of freedom of the reconstruction problem. Furthermore, this will alleviate the illness of the EIT inverse problem and lead to a better reconstruction result. The numerical validation results suggested that the proposed time-difference fraction reconstruction algorithm behaved better than traditional damped least squares algorithm (DLS) especially in the noise suppression capability. Moreover, under the condition of low signal-to-noise ratio, the proposed algorithm had a more obvious advantage in reconstructions of targets shape and position. This algorithm provides an efficient way to simultaneously utilize multifrequency measurement data for time-difference EIT, and leads to a more accurate reconstruction result. It may show us a new direction for the development of time-difference EIT algorithms in the case that the tissue spectrums are known.
This paper investigates the variation of lung tissue dielectric properties with tidal volume under in vivo conditions to provide reliable and valid a priori information for techniques such as microwave imaging. In this study, the dielectric properties of the lung tissue of 30 rabbits were measured in vivo using the open-end coaxial probe method in the frequency band of 100 MHz to 1 GHz, and 6 different sets of tidal volumes (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 mL) were set up to study the trends of the dielectric properties, and the data at 2 specific frequency points (433 and 915 MHz) were analyzed statistically. It was found that the dielectric coefficient and conductivity of lung tissue tended to decrease with increasing tidal volume in the frequency range of 100 MHz to 1 GHz, and the differences in the dielectric properties of lung tissue for the 6 groups of tidal volumes at 2 specific frequency points were statistically significant. This paper showed that the dielectric properties of lung tissue tend to vary non-linearly with increasing tidal volume. Based on this, more accurate biological tissue parameters can be provided for bioelectromagnetic imaging techniques such as microwave imaging, which could provide a scientific basis and experimental data support for the improvement of diagnostic methods and equipment for lung diseases.