Ultrawideband (UWB) (3-10 GHz) radar imaging systems offer much promise for biomedical applications such as cancer detection because of their good penetration and resolution characteristics. The underlying principle of UWB cancer detection is a significant contrast in dielectric properties, which is estimated to be greater than 2:1 between normal and cancerous tissue, compared to a few-percent contrast in radiographic density exploited by x rays. This article presents a feasibility study of the UWB imaging of liver cancer tumors, based on the frequency-dependent finite difference time domain method. The reflection, radiation, and scattering properties of UWB pulses as they propagate through the human body are studied. The reflected and back-scattered electromagnetic energies from cancer tumors inside the liver a e also investigated. An optimized, ultrawideband antenna was designed for near field operation, allowing for the reduction of the air-skin interface. It will be placed on the fat-liver tissue phantom with a malignant tumor stimulant. By performing an incremental scan over the phantom and removing early time artifacts, including reflection from the antenna ends, images based on the back-scattered signal from the tumor can be constructed. This research is part of our effort to develop a UWB cancer detection system with good detection and localization properties. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.