November 22

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MICROWAVE

SENSORS FOR MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION

A PROJECT REPORT

Submitted by

BL.EN.U4ECE19003 Adithya Sangani

BL.EN.U4ECE19008 Andagunda Venkata Vishnu

BL.EN.U4ECE19056 Inavolu Sai Vinay Kumar

in partial fulfilment for the award of the degree

of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY

IN

ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

AMRITA SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, BENGALURU

AMRITA VISHWA VIDYAPEETHAM

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BENGALURU 560035

AMRITA VISHWA VIDYAPEETHAM

AMRITA SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING,

BENGALURU, 560035

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report entitled “DESIGN AND

DEVELOPMENT OF MICROWAVE SENSOR FOR MATERIAL
CHARACTERIZATION” submitted by

BL.EN.U4ECE19003 Adithya Sangani

BL.EN.U4ECE19008 Andagunda Venkata Vishnu

BL.EN.U4ECE19056 Inavolu Sai Vinay Kumar

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree Bachelor of
Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering, is a bonafide
record of the work carried out under my guidance and supervision at Amrita
School of Engineering, Bengaluru.

SUPERVISOR CHAIRMAN

Dr. Parul Mathur Dr. Navin Kumar

Assistant Professor (Sr. Gr.) Professor and

Chairman

Department of ECE Department of ECE

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This project report was evaluated by us on 21-11-2022

EXAMINER 1 EXAMINER 2

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to each and every person
who has helped us in our project. Our heartfelt thanks to AMMA for
her shower’s blessings on us.

Firstly, we would extend our sincere thanks to our principal Dr. Sriram
Devanathan and the entire management for giving us the confidence and
motivating us to undertake this project.

We would also like to convey our sincere thanks to Dr. Navin Kumar,
Chairperson of the department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering for his constant support and assistance for all the efforts
made for the project.

Our heartfelt thanks to our project guide, Dr. Parul Mathur, for all the
guidance and encouragement provided throughout the project without
which it would not have been possible for us to complete our project.
The blessing, help and support given by her time to time shall carry us a
long way in the journey of life on which we are about to embark.

In the process of doing the project, we have received suggestions and

guidance from many teachers. We would like to thank all of them for
their kind support and assistance in helping us to do our project. Last but
not the least we would like to thank our family and friends in helping us
to give our best in all our attempts in completing the project.

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Thank You All.

ABSTRACT

An open-ended coaxial probe (OECP) microwave sensor is designed and

developed for monitoring copper, sulphate, chloride ion concentration in plating
baths. The sensor consists of coaxial probe with the inner conductor of radius a
and outer conductor of radius b and L is the coaxial length of the probe. The open-
ended coaxial probe technique is a simple, broadband, and non-destructive way to
measure the relative permittivity, εr of a material. Distilled water is taken as
Material under test(MUT) which has relative permittivity of 80.We will study the
relationship between various parameters such as tandel and S(1,1) by varying
thickness and also observe the relation between tandel and thickness. We get load
reflection coefficient as sensor output form Vector Network
Analyzer(VNA).Detailed sensitivity analysis is done for each ion in electroplating
solution i.e., copper, sulphate, and chloride for different microwave frequencies
using a microwave sensor.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTERS

1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………..……07-08
1.1 Overall System/Scenario 07
1.2 Objective 07
1.3 Methodology 08
1.4 Expected Result/Obtained Result 08
1.5 Timeline 08
1.6 Contents of rest of the report 08
2. STATE OF ART………………………………………………………...09-16

2.1 Related literature in detail 09

2.2 Summary of Literature Survey 16

3. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT.……………………………….........17-19

3.1 System Design Flow Process 17

3.2 Block Diagram 18
4. PARTIAL IMPLEMENTATION.……………………………….........19-21

4.1 Results 19

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………22-23

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LIST OF FIGURES

3.2.1 Open ended coaxial cable transmission line 12

3.2.2 Open ended Coaxial Probe With MUT(Distilled Water) 12

3.2.3 Larger Coaxial Probe 13

3.2.4: Tapered Part of Coaxial Sensor 13

3.2.5: Coxial Sensor 14

4.1.1: Magnitude Plot for different tandel values 18

4.1 Half-Adder Output Waveforms 19

4.2 2x2 Multiplier Output Waveforms 19

4.3 Full-Adder Output Waveforms 19

4.4 4-bit Adder Output Waveforms 20

4.5 6-bit Adder Output Waveforms 20

4.6 4x4 Multiplier Output Waveforms 20

4.7 8-bit Adder Output Waveforms 20

4.8 12-bit Adder Output Waveforms 21

4.9 8x8 Multiplier Output Waveforms 21

LIST OF ABBREVATIONS

OECP – Open ended Coaxial Probe

MUT – Material Under Test

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overall Scenario

Sensitivity, sustainability, and simplicity in operations are important requirements

for sensing devices in large-scale material processing industries. To reduce the
uncertainty of the measurements, the sensors should have a large sensing area, a
high concentration of sensing field, and high sensitivity to the slight changes in
material under test (MUT).

The open-ended coaxial probe technique is a simple, broadband, and non-

destructive way to measure the relative permittivity, εr of a material. Coaxial
probes have been commercialized and used commonly since 1990. Recently,
several probes have produced by manufacturers such as SPEAG Inc., KEYCOM,
and APREL Inc. However, coaxial probes (N-type’s or SMA’s diameter size) are
less sensitive to small changes in the MUT especially for thin and low-loss
materials in permittivity, εr measurement at MHz frequency. This causes the
measurement results for low-loss materials at low frequencies to be highly
scattered and less precise.

In this project we are designing a microwave sensor to get reflection coefficient

and Detailed sensitivity analysis is done for each ion in electroplating solution i.e.,
copper, sulphate, and chloride for different microwave frequencies using a
microwave sensor.

1.2 Objective

Main Objective:

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• The primary objective is to monitor the real-time changes in concentration

of copper, sulfate and chloride ions in plating baths. This will be achieved
using a microwave sensor whose performance is enhanced by artificial
neural networks.

Sub-Objectives:

1. Simulation of open-ended coaxial probe(OECP) in HFSS.

2. Detailed analysis for each ion mixed with water as MUT.

3. Gap analysis between sensor and MUT.

1.3 Methodology

In this project, we primarily design microwave sensor which is used to get

reflection coefficient. The sensor output is the input of Artificial Neural Network
(ANN) for predicting the complex dielectric constant of the materials.

1.5 Timeline

Phase 1 Literature Survey

Simulation of open-ended coaxial

probe(OECP) in HFSS.

Detailed analysis for each ion mixed

with water as MUT.

Gap analysis between sensor and MUT.

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1.6 Contents of the rest of the report

Chapter 1 deals with the overall scenario, objective of the project, the results and
the timeline of the project.
Chapter 2 deals with the literature survey of reference papers required for the
project.
Chapter 3 deals with the design of the module to be applied in sorting networks.

CHAPTER 2

STATE OF ART

2.1 Related literature in detail:

Paper-1(Base Paper)

Title: Precision permittivity measurement for low-loss thin planar materials

using large coaxial probe from 1 to 400 MHz. 

Authors: Kok Yeow You and Man Seng Sim

Published Year: December 2018

Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing, 2(4), p.81.

Abstract:

Dimensions required to build coaxial probe were taken from this paper and MUT
is taken as distilled water to get reflection coefficient.The designed large probe is
heavy whereby it is capable of supplying stable reflection measurements.

Large probe aperture (sensing area) can reduce the uncertainty of measurement,
which mostly caused by the inequality of composite distribution in MUT,
especially for inhomogeneous MUTs.

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Figure 2.1: Architecture of 8x8 and 16x16 Positive Multiplier

Paper-2(Base Paper)

Title: Design and calibration of a large open-ended coaxial probe for the
measurement of the dielectric properties of concrete.

Authors: Bilal Filali, François Boone, Jamal Rhazi, and Gérard Ballivy

Published Year: October 2008

IEEE Transactions On Microwave Theory And Techniques, VOL. 56, NO. 10.
Abstract:

Coaxial probes (N-type’s or SMA’s diameter size) are less sensitive to small
changes in the MUT especially for thin and low-loss materials in permittivity, εr
measurement at MHz frequency. This causes the measurement results for low-loss
materials at low frequencies to be highly scattered and less precise.

The iterative methods (inverse methods) are used to estimate the permittivity, εr of
lossy MUT in which the predicted values of εr are obtained by minimizing the
difference between the measured aperture reflection coefficient and the theoretical
calculations.

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Figure 2.2: Three and Four Way Sorting Network

1.2 Summary of Literature Survey:

1. The approximate multiplier has a low mean error distance.
2. Error-tolerant algorithms and applications have promoted the development
of approximate multipliers to trade-off accuracy for speed, implementation
area, and power efficiency.
3. To get the best quality the average error should be as low as possible. This
can be done in a couple of ways. One way is to balance a single 8 × 8 bit
multiplier using a combination of different 2 × 2 bit elements.

CHAPTER-3

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

3.1 System Design Flow Process

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In this chapter we discuss about the design model for the project.

Steps:

1. Designing required parts for microwave sensor

a. Open ended coaxial cable transmission line
b. Open ended Coaxial Probe With MUT(Distilled Water)
c. Larger Coaxial Probe
d. Tapered Part of Coaxial Sensor
e. Coaxial Sensor
   

3.2 Design

 
Figure 3.2.1:Open ended coaxial cable transmission line

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Figure 3.2.2:Open ended Coaxial Probe With MUT(Distilled Water)

Figure 3.2.3: Larger Coaxial Probe

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Figure 3.2.4: Tapered Part of Coaxial Sensor

Figure 3.2.5: Coaxial Sensor

CHAPTER-4

PARTIAL IMPLEMENTATION

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4. Results

Specifications Values

Frequency Range 1.5GHz-3GHz

Dielectric loss tangent 0.01,0.2,0.5

Thickness 15mm,20mm,40mm

Table 4.1: Values of Parameters

1. Results of OECP With MUT when thickness is 15mm:

Figure 4.1.1: Magnitude Plot for different tandel values

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Figure 4.1.2: Magnitude Plot in dB for different tandel values

Figure 4.1.3: Angle Plot

2. Results of OECP With MUT when thickness is 20mm:

Figure 4.2.1: Magnitude Plot for different tandel values

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Figure 4.2.2: Magnitude Plot in dB for different tandel values

Figure 4.2.3: Angle Plot

3. Results of OECP With MUT when thickness is 40mm:

Figure 4.3.1: Magnitude Plot for different tandel values

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Figure 4.3.2: Magnitude Plot in dB for different tandel values

Figure 4.3.3: Angle Plot

4. Results of Optimal thickness for different tandel values:

Specifications Values

Operating Frequency 2.4GHz

Dielectric loss tangent 0.2,0.5

Thickness Range 4-100

Table 4.2: Values of Parameters

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Figure 4.4.1: Magnitude Plot of tan0.2 for different thickness values

Figure 4.4.2: Magnitude Plot of tan0.5 for different thickness values

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Figure 4.4.3: Magnitude Plot of tan0.5 for different thickness values

REFERENCES

1. Mathur P, Thakur A. and Kurup, D.G., 2020. An artificial neural network-

based non-destructive microwave technique for monitoring fluoride
contamination in water. Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and
Applications, 34(5), pp.612-622.

2. Van Damme S, Franchois A, De Zutter D. and Taerwe L., 2004.

Nondestructive determination of the steel fiber content in concrete slabs
with an open-ended coaxial probe. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and
Remote Sensing, 42(11), pp.2511-2521.

3. You K.Y. and Sim M.S., 2018. Precision permittivity measurement for
low-loss thin planar materials using large coaxial probe from 1 to 400
MHz. Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing, 2(4), p.81.

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