Circular LPDA Array Design for Efficient Microwave Treatment of Palm Weevil Infestation

The Red Palm Weevil (RPW) is one of the most harmful pests to palms globally. Various strategies have been used to killing this pest which includes Phyto sanitation, chemical pesticides, pheromone traps, and biological management, however the use of microwave energy for heat disinfestation appears to be a potential alternative. This article describes the method to develop a microwave antenna system that uses a circular array of Log-Periodic Dipole Antennas (LPDAs) to disinfect date palms. The simulation results are performed in FDTD solver. The proposed antenna covers a wide frequency range spanning 1.3 GHz − 3 GHz. The reflection coefficient is well below to −10 dB over the whole resonant frequency band, having a peak gain of 9.5 dBi for a single antenna. A circular LPDA antenna array is proposed to perform the thermal analysis for particular area of the palm tree to mitigate the RPW.