Articles | Volume 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/ars-6-9-2008
https://doi.org/10.5194/ars-6-9-2008
26 May 2008
 | 26 May 2008

Compact mode-matched excitation structures for radar distance measurements in overmoded circular waveguides

G. Armbrecht, E. Denicke, I. Rolfes, N. Pohl, T. Musch, and B. Schiek

Abstract. This contribution deals with guided radar level measurements of liquid materials in large metal tubes, so-called stilling wells, bypass or still pipes. In the RF domain these tubes function as overmoded circular waveguides and mode-matched excitation structures like waveguide tapers are needed to avoid higher order waveguide modes. Especially for high-precision radar measurements the multimode propagation effects need to be minimized to achieve submillimeter accuracy. Therefore, a still pipe simulator is introduced with the purpose to fundamentally analyze the modal effects. Furthermore, a generalized design criterion is derived for the spurious mode suppression of compact circular waveguide transitions under the constraint of specified accuracy levels. According to the obtained results, a promising waveguide taper concept will finally be presented.