title: PCA-based artifact removal algorithm for stroke detection using UWB radar imaging.
abstract: Stroke patients should be dispatched at the highest level of care available in the shortest time. In this context, a transportable system in specialized ambulances, able to evaluate the presence of an acute brain lesion in a short time interval (i.e., few minutes), could shorten delay of treatment. UWB radar imaging is an emerging diagnostic branch that has great potential for the implementation of a transportable and low-cost device. Transportability, low cost and short response time pose challenges to the signal processing algorithms of the backscattered signals as they should guarantee good performance with a reasonably low number of antennas and low computational complexity, tightly related to the response time of the device. The paper shows that a PCA-based preprocessing algorithm can: (1) achieve good performance already with a computationally simple beamforming algorithm; (2) outperform state-of-the-art preprocessing algorithms; (3) enable a further improvement in the performance (and/or decrease in the number of antennas) by using a multistatic approach with just a modest increase in computational complexity. This is an important result toward the implementation of such a diagnostic device that could play an important role in emergency scenario.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: di Domenico
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy. cianca@ing.uniroma2.it.
authors.forename: Ernestina
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0337-8354
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cianca
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Department, Policlinic of "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diomedi
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008872:Microwaves; D011825:Radar / Q000295:instrumentation; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: Artifact removal; Brain stroke detection; Microwave UWB radar; PCA