Abstract: Provided among other things is a wearable microwave radiometer. For example, a wearable microwave radiometer apparatus for measuring relative temperature differences comprising: (a) a circumambient garment configured to fit snugly; (b) control flat, flexible radiometer antenna(s) fitted to, or configured to fit to, the garment; (c) active flat, flexible radiometer antenna(s) fitted to, or configured to fit to, the garment, which active antenna(s) are configured in the apparatus to be positioned in a spaced-apart manner relative to the control antenna(s); and (d) a radiometer configured to monitor microwave signal from the control and active antennas and fitted to, or configured to fit to, the garment, wherein the antennas are operatively connected to, or configured to connect to, the radiometer.

Abstract: Provided among other things is a thermal noise imaging device with (a) thermal noise source; (b) amplifier of thermal noise; (c) antennas adapted to transmit the amplified noise to a perfused body and receive perfused body noise; (d) reference circuit adapted to receive the amplified thermal noise and produce a reference signal; (e) perfused body docking interface adapted to interface with one or more surfaces of the perfused body and (i) support a reflection set of one or more antennas in close proximity with a surface of the perfused body or (ii) support separate transmission sets of one or more antennas on opposing surfaces of the perfused body; and (f) analytical module for the perfused body noise and the reference signal and determining a reflected power from the reflection set or a transmitted power from the transmission sets.

Abstract: A microwave handheld radiometer for measuring subsurface tissue temperature of a subject includes a microwave antenna disposed relative to a handheld radiometer housing and adapted to electromagnetically couple to a skin surface of a subject, a circulator having a first circulator input and a second circulator input, wherein the first circulator input is electrically coupled to said antenna via a microwave feedline. A switch is electrically disposed between the antenna and an microwave feedline, said switch having a calibrate state and a measure state. A noise source, electrically coupled to the circulator, is being configured to provide a first source of thermal noise at a first temperature and a second source of thermal noise at a second temperature, wherein the noise source is switched between the first source and second source upon external command wherein a detector provides an output wherein surface temperature effects are corrected for the sub-surface measurement.

Abstract: Provided among other things is a thermal noise imaging device comprising: (a) a source of thermal noise; (b) an amplifier for amplifying the thermal noise; (c) one or more antennas adapted to transmit the amplified thermal noise to a perfused body and receive perfused body noise, which is the amplified thermal noise after reflection from or transmission through the perfused body; (d) a reference circuit adapted to receive the amplified thermal noise and produce a reference signal; (e) a perfused body docking interface adapted to interface with one or more surfaces of the perfused body and (i) support a reflection set of one or more antennas in close proximity with a surface of the perfused body or (ii) support separate transmission sets of one or more antennas on opposing surfaces of the perfused body; and (f) an analytical module for receiving the perfused body noise and the reference signal and determining one or more of a reflected power from the reflection set and a transmitted power from the transmission

Abstract: A microwave handheld radiometer for measuring subsurface tissue temperature of a subject includes a microwave antenna disposed relative to a handheld radiometer housing and adapted to electromagnetically couple to a skin surface of a subject, a circulator having a first circulator input and a second circulator input, wherein the first circulator input is electrically coupled to said antenna via a microwave feedline. A switch is electrically disposed between the antenna and an microwave feedline, said switch having a calibrate state and a measure state. A noise source, electrically coupled to the circulator, is being configured to provide a first source of thermal noise at a first temperature and a second source of thermal noise at a second temperature, wherein the noise source is switched between the first source and second source upon external command wherein a detector provides an output wherein surface temperature effects are corrected for in the sub-surface measurement.

Abstract: A minimally-invasive fluid-cooled insertion sleeve assembly, with an attached balloon and distally-located penetrating tip, into which sleeve any of a group comprising a rigid rod, a microwave-radiator assembly and an ultrasonic-imaging transducer assembly may be inserted, constitutes a probe of the system. The sleeve assembly comprises spaced inner and outer plastic tubes with two fluid channels situated within the coaxial lumen between the inner and outer tubes. The fluid coolant input flows through the fluid channels into the balloon, thereby inflating the balloon, and then exits through that coaxial lumen. An alternative embodiment has no balloon. The method employs the probe for piercing sub-cutaneous tissue and then ablating deep-seated tumor tissue with microwave-radiation generated heat.

Abstract: 2N?1 four-terminal phase-reversing switches are arranged in one or more columns of cascaded switches, wherein a frequency having a given relative phase ? is applied as an input of the top switch in a cascade. A particular configuration of 2N?1 different reference-values, determined by a preselected N-Bit binary code, is applied to the respective 2N?1 switches so that (1) whenever the amplitude value of an applied analog signal reaches a value equal to the reference value applied to any switch, that switch will switch to reverse the phase at its output from the phase at its input, and (2) cause the switching of the phase at the output at each switch ordinally situated in a column below that switch. The respective output phases from a certain subset of N switches of the 2N?1 switches define the binary values of the preselected N-Bit binary code output from the A/D converter.

Abstract: Each of various modifications of an integrated-structure inflatable balloon catheter design includes a longitudinal structure having a sharply-pointed insertion needle at a distal end of the longitudinal structure and an inflatable balloon situated intermediate a proximate end and the distal end of the longitudinal structure which is attached to said longitudinal structure. With the inflatable balloon in a deflated state, the insertion needle may be used to puncture the patient's skin and underlying sub-cutaneous tissue and place the deflated balloon in proximity to the diseased sub-cutaneous tissue, The balloon is then inflated to press against and thereby spatially deform the diseased sub-cutaneous tissue, after which the deformed diseased sub-cutaneous tissue may be therapeutically heated. This heating may be sufficient to cause the creation of a permanent cavity in the deformed diseased sub-cutaneous tissue which persists after the catheter is withdrawn.

Abstract: Each of various modifications of an integrated-structure inflatable balloon catheter design includes a longitudinal structure having a sharply-pointed insertion needle at a distal end of the longitudinal structure and an inflatable balloon situated intermediate a proximate end and the distal end of the longitudinal structure which is attached to said longitudinal structure. With the inflatable balloon in a deflated state, the insertion needle may be used to puncture the patient's skin and underlying sub-cutaneous tissue and place the deflated balloon in proximity to the diseased sub-cutaneous tissue, The balloon is then inflated to press against and thereby spatially deform the diseased sub-cutaneous tissue, after which the deformed diseased sub-cutaneous tissue may be therapeutically heated. This heating may be sufficient to cause the creation of a permanent cavity in the deformed diseased sub-cutaneous tissue which persists after the catheter is withdrawn.

Abstract: An active RF or microwave bandage, that incorporates any of various disclosed configurations of pliable planar microstrip or slotline antenna structures, is conformable to a selected area of the skin of a patient for use in therapeutically treating soft tissue of the patient underlying the selected area with pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) energy of a given frequency radiated from the planar antenna structure. The PEMF energy is supplied to the planar antenna structure by means including a PEMF generator (which generator may be a miniaturized portable generator employing a battery power supply that permits the patient being treated to be ambulatory).

Abstract: The catheter constitutes a single integrated structural unit comprising a first tubular balloon-supporting structure having a given outer diameter and a second structure inserted therein comprising an antenna and a coaxial cable for energizing the antenna. This permits both the antenna and the longitudinal cable to be wider, without any increase in the given outer diameter, than would be the case if the catheter were a prior-art non-integrated structure in which the tubular first structure and the second structure are separate detached units and, therefore, require clearance therebetween to permit insertion. In both basic and preferred embodiments, the single integrated structural is achieved by an electrically conductive shield attached by spacers to an outer conductor of the coaxial cable. In the basic embodiment, the shield is spaced from both the outer cable conductor and first structure to form inner and outer channels for exiting and entering the circulating balloon-inflating liquid.

Abstract: Disclosed are a plurality of different circuits employing a field effect transistor (FET), that preferably is a pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (PHEMT) that may be fabricated on a large-size monolithic chip, wherein the PHEMT is operated as a variable resistance in response to a first operating signal voltage applied to its gate and a second operating signal voltage having at least a first of two opposite polarities applied to its drain-source path, at least one of first and second operating signal voltages includes a multigigahertz frequency signal component having a certain phase; and the respective amplitudes of the first and second operating signal voltages are sufficiently low that the maximum power dissipation by the circuit is in the order of microwatts or less.

Abstract: Disclosed are three embodiments of a method for determining the formation of a "biological stent" for permanently maintaining the widened bore portion of the urethra of a male patient undergoing treatment for a disease of the prostate. In this treatment, the bore portion is first temporarily widened by squeezing pressure on urethral tissue thereof applied by an inflated balloon of a microwave balloon catheter inserted in the urethera and then microwave energy sufficient to form the "biological stent" is applied to the urethral tissue. The first embodiment involves noting an observable drop in the measured value of the inflation pressure inflating the balloon when the urethral tissue has been sufficiently heated to effect a noticeable drop in the elasticity of the irradiated urethral tissue.

Abstract: Disclosed are four improvements in temperature-measuring radiometric equipment. The first improvement is directed to increasing the sensitivity of a radiometer by employing microwave noise power derived from a reference noise source in an amount that corresponds to a temperature higher than that of the specimen, and applying the reference-noise-source-derived microwave noise power as an input to the radiometer for a shorter time than is microwave noise power derived from a specimen. The second improvement is directed to reducing emissivity error by employing open-loop means comprising a microwave circulator for applying microwave noise power generated by at least one resistor thermostatically heated to a temperature in the neighborhood of the temperature of a patient's body tissue back to the body tissue.

Abstract: A wireless monitoring system including at least one first unit for sensing motion and for directly radiating signals corresponding to the sensed motion. Additionally, the system includes a second unit for detecting signals radiated by the first unit and for converting the detected signals into electronic signals suitable for monitoring at compatible monitor apparatus.

Abstract: The device includes a radar antenna mounted at the inside end of an arm which can be horizontally inserted through the wall of the furnace above the loading surface, an electronic control and measuring unit placed outside the furnace, and one or two waveguides connecting the said antenna to the electronic unit through the arm. The waveguide or waveguides are duplicated by two reference waveguides of the same nature and of the same length but not connected to the said antenna systems in order to provide a forward and return path for a reference signal generated by the electronic unit and which remains correlated with the measurment signal to allow a better identification of the reflected signal.

Abstract: The device includes a transmitting antenna which also serves as a receiving antenna and a separate receiving antenna for receiving the signals transmitted by the transmitting antenna and reflected at the point of reflection, and two data processing units, one for the signals picked up by the transmitting and receiving antenna and transmitted through a circulator and a first mixer, the other for the signals picked up by the receiving antenna and transmitted through a second mixer. The distance measurement is computed using the signals picked up by the transmitting and receiving antenna for distances less than a predetermined threshold and using the signals picked up by the receiving antenna for distances greater than the predetermined threshold.

Abstract: A radar probe including several individual scanning antennas is mounted in the wall of the furnace above the loading surface and performs a two-dimensional scanning of the entire loading surface.

Abstract: A microwave carrier signal is transmitted into certain tissue (such as the thorax) of a patient from an outer one of three linearly-arranged independent elements of an antenna assembly. Back-scatter portions of the carrier signal are received by both the middle and the other outer ones of the elements of the antenna assembly. The back-scatter portion received by the middle element is phase-modulated by a modulation frequency and retransmitted into the tissue of the patient, and the other outer element also receives a back-scatter portion of this retransmitted phase-modulated signal. The total signal received by this other outer element is beat against the original microwave signal in a mixer and the output of the mixer is applied as an input to a bandpass filter, which passes only the phase-modulated signal. The envelope of the bandpass filter output is indicative of motion (e.g., breathing rate) of the patient.

Abstract: A radio frequency transmitter simultaneously transmits both a local oscillator frequency and that frequency modulated by an information content signal. A receiver receives a carrier wave that is at the opposite edge of a channel from that of the local oscillator. The transmitted and received information signals can be of opposite type sidebands.