A FDR Sensor for Measuring Complex Soil Dielectric Permittivity in the 10–500 MHz Frequency Range

Abstract

Mechanical details as well as electrical models of FDR (frequency domain reflectometry) sensors for the measurement of the complex dielectric permittivity of porous materials are presented. The sensors are formed from two stainless steel parallel waveguides of various lengths. Using the data from VNA (vector network analyzer) with the connected FDR sensor and selected models of the applied sensor it was possible obtain the frequency spectrum of dielectric permittivity from 10 to 500 MHz of reference liquids and soil samples of various moisture and salinity. The performance of the analyzed sensors were compared with TDR (time domain reflectometry) ones of similar mechanical construction.

Keywords

• FDR
• TDR
• dielectric permittivity
• dielectric spectroscopy
• soil moisture
• soil salinity