Sensitivity analysis on imaging the calcaneus using microwaves

The bone quality is asociated with changes in its dielectric properties (permittivity and conductivity). The feasibility of detecting changes in these properties is evaluated using a tomographic array of 16 monopole antennas with z-polarized microwaves at 1.3GHz. The direct problem was evaluated computationally with the Finite-Difference-Time-Domain (FDTD) method. Local and global sensitivity analysis were considered for identifiyng the parameters that most affect the detection. We observed that the direct problem is highly sensitive to the conductivity of the tissues that surround the calcaneus and the one of the calcaneus itself. Global and local sensitivity methods have shown evidences for feasible detection of variation in dielectric properties of bone.