Metamaterial-based multifunctional sensor design for moisture, concrete aging and ethanol density sensing applications

Abstract

We have designed and developed a metamaterial (MTM)-based multipurpose sensor structure capable of sensing moisture, liquid (ethyl alcohol-ethanol-in our case) density in pure water and the concrete aging. The structure is composed of a rectangular shape MTM cell resonator which can be adjusted to any desired frequency range depending on the application area and the material to be sensed. The material is put into a plastic rectangular pipe placed in a hole located in the middle of the structure. Depending on the response of the proposed model to the electromagnetic properties of the material under test (MUT), overall resonance frequency shifts providing the information to accurately estimate the soil moisture, concrete age and density rate of the sensed liquid samples in real time. The resonance frequency has been carefully chosen so that the MUT has a linear variation in its electromagnetic response behaviors. It is aimed for future studies to adjust the structure for designing a portable multipurpose sensor device and even adjust it to smart phones and sense the materials by simply using smart phones and a small amount of sample in high efficiency.