This dissertation discusses the design, fabrication, and testing of a series of test phantoms for the testing and validation of a series of applications. These test phantoms focused on the replications of key physiological features of the human body, from a mechanical, acoustical, and optical standpoint. Physiological feature set included Heart, Arteries, Veins, Bone, Muscle, Fat, Skin, and Dermotographic Features (fingerprints). Mechanical aspects include vascular compression and distention, elasticity of tissue layers, mechanics of human heart. The end goal of which to have a working understanding of each component in order to create a controllable, real time, physiologically accurate, test phantoms for a wide range of applications. A test phantom arm was created for the calibration of an ultrasonic, wearable, blood pressure monitor. Key blood pressure measurements such as pulse wave velocity, vascular compression / distention, and flow rate were observed. Next, a test phantom finger, with a working capillary network was created as a means of biometric algorithm sensor validation and training for “Liveness Detection” purposes. From there, a series of microfluidic test targets were created for the resolution testing of an ultrasonic and photoacoustic subdermal imaging system. Finally, as a means of fabricating these microfluidic test phantom networks, a new wax based fabrication method was created, tested, modeled, and optimized.

The innovations that occurred throughout this thesis came from the combination of such unique applications with underlying common physics and technologies, which up until now, that not been merged in such a manor. This integration of biometrics, wearables, ultrasonics, test phantoms, microfluidics, and photoacoustic opened new avenues in both a research and industrial environment.