A Planar RF-Sensor Using Concentric Complementary Open-Ring Resonator for Dielectric Characterization & On-Field Testing of Soil

Abstract

This work proposes a complementary concentric open-ring microwave resonator sensor for accurate sensing of the electrical properties of soil and its moisture content. The device operation for microwave S-band at 3.1 GHz allows lower phase-dependent measurements for the accurate estimation of the dielectric constant. The device is fabricated on an RO48350B substrate of ${\epsilon }_r=3.48$ and the corresponding results were found to close match the electromagnetic simulation data. Silt soil and red soil were tested and analysed up to 21% percentage of the moisture level. Transmission coefficient ($\mathrm{\Gamma }$)-based numerical technique was used to extract the dielectric constant of different soil samples. The proposed sensor design is also tested for on-field measurements of soil and moisture level from different soil surface depth has been extracted.

Keywords:

• Concentric open-ring resonator
• Dielectric estimation
• Resonance
• Soil sensing
• Metamaterial unit cell

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the Technical Education Quality Improvement Program Phase-III (TEQIP-III) and the Sensor Lab of Electronics Dept., Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, for providing the research facility. This publication is an outcome of the R&D work undertaken in the project under the Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, being implemented by Digital India Corporation (formerly Media Lab Asia)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paresh R. Sagar

Paresh R Sagar received the BE in ECE from the Government Engg College, Rajkot, Gujarat and the MTech in electronics engineering from the Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT) Surat, in 2009 and 2016, respectively. Currently, he is pursuing PhD in electronics engineering at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India. He authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals. His research interests include planar microstrip antennas and sensor design using metamaterial. Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Piyush N. Patel

Piyush N Patel received the MTech and PhD degrees in electronics engineering from the Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT) Surat. He is currently working as associate professor in the electronics engineering Department in the same institute. He has more than 20 years of teaching and research experience. He has published over 30 research articles in various national and international conferences and journals of repute. He has abiding interest is in the development of optical and microwave devices and sensors. He is actively involved with different research and funding agencies such as DRDO, TEQIP, DIETY, and DBT for research projects.He is a reviewer and editorial board member in Optics communication (Elsevier), IEEE Sensor Journal and WESEAS Transaction on Communication. Email: [email protected]