Obstacle-based self-calibration techniques for the determination of the permittivity of liquids

Abstract. In this contribution, different obstacle-based self-calibration techniques for the measurement of the dielectric properties of liquids are investigated at microwave frequencies. The liquid under test is contained inside a waveguide, which is connected to the ports of a vector network analyzer. The permittivity of the liquid is characterized on the basis of the measured scattering parameters.

In order to extract the material parameters precisely and to eliminate systematic errors of the setup, calibration measurements have to be performed. For this purpose, different self-calibration methods based on the displacement of an obstacle are considered. The presented methods differ in that way, that either transmission and reflection measurements or purely reflection measurements are performed. All these methods have in common that the material parameters are already calculable within a so-called self-calibration procedure. Thus, a full two-port calibration of the whole setup is not necessary. Furthermore, the methods can be realized effectively in a practical setup having the advantage that a rearrangement of the setup is not needed for the material parameter measurements and that the liquid under investigation can pass continuously through the measurement cell. This might be of interest for the application in an industrial process, enabling the continuous flow of the material while the parameter characterization can take place at the same time.