PERIOD: JANUARY - FEBRUARY Microwave imaging technology exploits the differences in dielectric properties of the objects under test. The area under analysis is illuminated, at microwave frequencies, with low-power electromagnetic (EM) waves radiated by an array of antennas placed around. The resulting scattered EM fields are recorded by the same antennas and processed with suitable algorithms to translate them into an image. In recent years, microwave tomography (MWT) has attracted an increasing interest as an alternative diagnostic tool for medical imaging. Among the various applications, diagnosis of breast cancer and brain stroke are certainly the most prominent examples. Low cost, reduced size of the equipment and the use of low intensity and non-ionizing radiations make MWT particularly appealing as compared to standard diagnostic tools for brain stroke, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and x-ray computerized tomography (CT), which are indeed much more expensive, bulky and harmful for the patient or operator. MWT can be considered as a cooperation technique to make diagnosis or follow-up more accurate and comfortable. In the food industry there is also an increasing interest in MWT techniques. Detecting food contamination in products moving along the production chain is a priority for every established food producer. Although detection technologies have been widely used in last years, low-density foreign bodies such as plastic, thin glass or wood are still undetectable to all established detection systems but are identifiable through dielectric properties differences. Low cost and non-ionizing radiations make this technique appealing also for industrial scenarios. The aim of the course is to give to the students the necessary tools to understand and design MWT systems, selecting the best approach for an application and proposing new possible techniques. The structure of the course goes from a general introduction and applicability of the technique, to the already existing devices, passing through the theoretical concepts behind. The final examination will face students with both theoretical and practical problems, exploring other possible scenarios of application in their fields.

Part I: Introduction & Theoretical Background I. Overview of possible applications II. Background theory a. Review of Electromagnetism Scattering b. Fundamentals of Inverse Scattering Problems Part II: From theory to implementation I. Linearized Inverse methods II. Non-linear Tomography methods a. Gauss-Newton methods b. Contrast Source Inversion c. Other approaches III. Emerging techniques. Part III: Experimental implemented devices I. Devices for biomedical applications a. Breast Cancer detection b. Brain stroke follow-up c. Other biomedical applications II. Devices for food monitoring applications

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Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.