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At least 55 records · Page 3

Permittivity of ice and water at millimeter wavelengths

Measurements of reflectivity of water and ice at 100 GHz, 140 GHz, and 180 GHz are reported. Measurements on water covered the temperature range 0 C to 50 C. No anomalies in the dielectric properties of water due to the presence of either salts or organic matter were found. The reflectivity of water and its temperature dependence are consistent with recent dielectric property models derived from data at other wavelengths. The index of refraction of fresh ice is constant at 1.78 throughout this regions.

Blue, M. D.↗

An empirical model for the complex dielectric permittivity of soils as a function of water content

Recent measurements on the dielectric properties of soils have shown that the variation of dielectric constant with moisture content depends on soil types. The observed dielectric constant increases only slowly with moisture content up to a transition point. Beyond the transition it increases rapidly with moisture content. The moisture value at transition region was found to be higher for high clay content soils than for sandy soils. Many mixing formulas reported in the literature were compared with, and were found incompatible with, the measured dielectric variations of soil-water mixtures. A simple empirical model was proposed to describe the dielectric behavior of the soil-water mixtures. This model employs the mixing of either the dielectric constants or the refraction indices of ice, water, rock, and air, and treats the transition moisture value as an adjustable parameter. The calculated mixture dielectric constants from the model were found to be in reasonable agreement with the measured results over the entire moisture range of 0-0.5 cu cm/cu cm. The transition moistures derived from the model range from 0.16 to 0.33 and are strongly correlated with the wilting points of the soils estimated from their textures. This relationship between transition moisture and wilting point provides a means of estimating soil dielectric properties on the basis of texture information.

Wang, J. R.↗

Anisotropy of the permittivity field inferred from aspect-sensitive radar echoes

An attempt is made to draw some quantitative conclusions regarding the anisotropy of the clear-air back-scattering mechanism based on the measured variation of echo power with zenith angle. The measurements were made by the SOUSY group of the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy at Lindau, FRG. They installed their 47-MHz transmitter and antenna feed in the 300-meter diameter reflector at Arecibo. The resulting 1.7-degree beam was stepped successively through seven 1.7-degree intervals from 1.7 to 11.7 degrees in zenith angle, obtaining about four minutes of data at each setting. This procedure was carried out in an eastward pointing azimuth and in a northward pointing azimuth, the entire set of measurements consuming an hour and twenty minutes. Range resolution was 150 meters.

Waterman, A. T.↗

Characteristic Impedance of a Wide Slot Line on Low Permittivity Substrates

Computed results on the characteristic impedance of wide slots etched on an electrically thin substrate of low dielectric constant epsilon sub r are presented. Results are given for epsilon sub r = 2.22, 3.0, 3.8 and 9.8. Comparison is shown for the characteristic impedance between the present calculations and those available in the literature for high-epsilon sub r substrates.

Janaswamy, R.↗

Characteristic impedance of a wide slot line on low permittivity substrates

Computed results on the characteristics impedance of wide slots etched on an electrically thin substrate of low dielectric constant epsilon sub r are presented. These results are used to help provide design data for slotlines. Curves are presented for epsilon sub r = 2.22, 3.0, 3.8, and 9.8. Comparison is shown for the characteristic impedance between the present calculations and those available in the literature for high-epsilon sub r substrates. Empirical formulas, based on least square curve fitting, are presented for the normalized slot wavelength lambda prime/lambda sub 0 and the characteristic impedance Z sub 0 over the range: 0.0015 is equal to or less than W/lambda sub 0 equal to or less than 1.0, 0.006 is equal to or less than d/lambda sub 0 equal to or less than 0.06, 2.22 is equal to or less than epsilon sub 0 equal to or less than 9.8.

Janaswamy, R.↗

Characteristic impedance of a wide slotline on low-permittivity substrates

Computed results on the characteristic impedance of wide slots etched on an electrically thin substrate of low dielectric constant epsilon sub r are presented. Results are given for epsilon sub r = 2.22, 3.0, 3.8 and 9.8. Comparison is shown for the characteristic impedance between the present calculations and those available in the literature for high-epsilon sub r substrates.

Janaswamy, R.↗

Application of FEM to estimate complex permittivity of dielectric material at microwave frequency using waveguide measurements

A simple waveguide measurement technique is presented to determine the complex dielectric constant of a dielectric material. The dielectric sample is loaded in a shorted x-band rectangular waveguide. Using a network analyzer; the reflection coefficient of the shorted waveguide (loaded with sample) is measured. Using the Finite Element Method (FEM), the exact reflection coefficient of the shorted waveguide (loaded with sample) is determined as a function of the dielectric constant. Matching the measured value of the reflection coefficient with the reflection coefficient calculated using the FEM utilizing the Newton-Raphson Method, an estimate of the dielectric constant of a dielectric material is obtained. A comparison of estimated values of dielectric constant obtained from simple waveguide modal theory and the present approach is presented.

Deshpande, M. D.↗

Estimation of Complex Permittivity of Composite Multilayer Material at Microwave Frequency Using Waveguide Measurements

A simple method is presented to estimate the complex dielectric constants of individual layers of a multilayer composite material. Using the MatLab Optimization Tools simple MatLab scripts are written to search for electric properties of individual layers so as to match the measured and calculated S-parameters. A single layer composite material formed by using materials such as Bakelite, Nomex Felt, Fiber Glass, Woven Composite B and G, Nano Material #0, Cork, Garlock, of different thicknesses are tested using the present approach. Assuming the thicknesses of samples unknown, the present approach is shown to work well in estimating the dielectric constants and the thicknesses. A number of two layer composite materials formed by various combinations of above individual materials are tested using the present approach. However, the present approach could not provide estimate values close to their true values when the thicknesses of individual layers were assumed to be unknown. This is attributed to the difficulty in modelling the presence of airgaps between the layers while doing the measurement of S-parameters. A few examples of three layer composites are also presented.

Deshpande, Manohar D.↗

Microwave Permittivity and Permeability Measurement on Lunar Soils

There has been interest in finding ways to process the lunar regolith since the early analyses of lunar samples returned from the Apollo moon missions. This fact has led to proposals for using microwaves to perform in-situ processing of the lunar soil to support future colonization of the moon. More recently, there has been speculation that the excellent microwave absorption of lunar soil came from the nanophase iron content in the regolith. The motivation for the present study was to begin obtaining a more fundamental understanding of the dielectric and magnetic properties of the regolith at microwave frequencies. A major objective of this study was to obtain information that would help answer the question about whether nanophase iron plays a major role in heating lunar soils. These new measurements over a wide frequency range can also determine the magnitude of the dielectric and magnetic absorption and if there are any resonant features that could be used to enhance processing of the regolith in the future. In addition, these microwave measurements would be useful in confirming that new simulants being developed, particularly those containing nanophase iron, would have the correct composition to simulate the lunar regolith. The results of this study suggest that nanophase iron does not play a major role in heating lunar regolith.

Barmatz, Martin↗

New Dielectric Measurement Data to Determine the Permittivity of Seawater at 1.4313 Hz

This paper describes the new measurements - made in 2010-2011 - of the dielectric constant of seawater at 1.413 GHz using a resonant cavity technique. The purpose of these measurements is to develop an accurate relationship concerning the dependence of the dielectric constant of seawater on temperature and salinity for use by the Aquarius inversion algorithm. Aquarius is a NASA/CONAE satellite mission launched in June of 2011 with the primary mission of measuring global sea surface salinity with a 1.413 GHz radiometer to an accuracy of 0.2 psu. A brass microwave cavity resonant at 1.413 GHz has been used to measure the dielectric constant of seawater. The seawater is introduced into the cavity through a capillary glass tube having an inner diameter of 0.1 mm. The change of resonant frequency and the cavity Q value are used to determine the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant of seawater. Measurements are automated with Visual Basic software developed at the George Washington University. In this paper, new results from measurements made since September 2010 will be presented for salinities of 30, 35 and 38 psu with a temperature range of 0 C to 35 C in intervals of 5 C. These measurements are more accurate than earlier measurements made in 2008. The new results will be compared to the Klein-Swift (KS) and Meissner-Wentz (MW) model functions. The importance of an accurate model function will be illustrated by using these model functions to invert the Aquarius brightness temperature to retrieve the salinity values. The salinity values will be compared to co-located in situ data collected by Argo buoys.

Lang, R.↗

Tailorable Dielectric Material with Complex Permittivity Characteristics

A dielectric material includes a network of nanosubstrates, such as but not limited to nanotubes, nanosheets, or other nanomaterials or nanostructures, a polymer base material or matrix, and nanoparticles constructed at least partially of an elemental metal. The network has a predetermined nanosubstrate loading percentage by weight with respect to a total weight of the dielectric material, and a preferential or predetermined longitudinal alignment with respect to an orientation of an incident electrical field. A method of forming the dielectric material includes depositing the metal-based nanoparticles onto the nanosubstrates and subsequently mixing these with a polymer matrix. Once mixed, alignment can be achieved by melt extrusion or a similar mechanical shearing process. Alignment of the nanosubstrate may be in horizontal or vertical direction with respect to the orientation of an incident electrical field.

Dudley, Kenneth L.↗

Reflectivity, Emissivity, and Brightness from Multilayered Soil with Linearly Varying Permittivity at P- and L- bands

Passive sensing of root zone soil moisture is theoretically investigated using P and L band frequencies. The soil is considered to be a stratified medium. The reflectivity from the soil surface is found by considering the soil to be composed of a finely layered structure with layer widths that are small compared to a wavelength. A well-known transmission line algorithm is then used to compute the reflectivity at the surface. Emissivity is obtained as (1 – reflectivity). It assumed that the soil is at a constant temperature of 300o K when determining the brightness temperature. A soil moisture profile consisting of two homogeneous layers separated by a layer of linearly varying soil moisture is investigated. The study is made at an incident angle of 40O for horizontal polarization at 0.8 and 1.4 GHz. Two variations of the basic profile are considered: a transition from a layer of lesser moisture to a layer of greater moisture and the opposite. In both cases the P band signal shows greater penetration than the L band case. There is greater penetration in the transition to drier soils. In both cases the L band signals show sensitivity to only the upper surface of the soil as expected.

Ming Li↗

Complex Permittivity for NUW-LHT-5M at 2.466 GHz Over a Range of Densities

Microwave radiation near 2.45 GHz are being considered as a mechanism to heat lunar regolith. Because microwave absorption is in part a function of particle packing, the effect of bulk density of the lunar highland simulant, NUW-LHT-5M, was investigated. It was computed that over the practically achievable range of compaction, 1.4 g/cm 3 to 2.094 g/cm 3 , tanδ changed approximately 9%/0.2 g/cm 3 and half power depth changed is approximately 14%/0.2 g/cm 3 . Energy consumption is tied to these values.

NUW-LHT-5M↗