Development of a novel PCB electric field sensor with high-resolution

Abstract Electric field sensors with high resolution and high sensitivity have an important engineering application. Developing a compact, cost-effective Electric Field Sensor (EFS) for aerospace applications, this study introduces a novel use of PCB parallel board probes, enhancing affordability and simplicity. A uniquely designed three-stage adaptive signal amplification module quickly adjusts amplification factors, ensuring high sensitivity and resolution even in complex electric field environments. Due to the non-linear response characteristics of the PCB probes in complex electric field environments, the GTEM cells and the high voltage parallel plate method are used to simulate the complex electric field scenarios. In the weak electric field experiment, the proposed EFS achieved a high resolution of 10 mV/m. In the strong electric field experiment, the linearity of fitting between the proposed EFS and commercial NBM-550EFS reached 0.9999. Finally, based on RBFNN, the overall measurement model of EFS achieves the dynamic measurement range of 0-1 kV/m.