Meander-Line based Microwave Sensor for Soil Water Content Monitoring

This work presents a meander-line-based microwave sensor for soil permittivity and its water content (WC) monitoring. In High Frequency Simulation Software (HFSS), we have simulated our sensor structure, then calculated and presented its sensitivity (S) at a permittivity ranging from 1 to 10. To validate the simulation work, we have realized the microwave sensor using PCB technology and then used it to detect sand’s WC variation from 0% to 10%. The experimental results revealed a left shift of the frequencies, justified by the increase in permittivity. The proposed sensor’s S is 1.4 to 3.33 times higher than that of literature’s sensors; moreover, its size is 1.21 to 3.41 times smaller.