A novel approach for measuring dielectric properties of materials using multi-length bifilar technique
A novel methodology is introduced for measuring the dielectric properties of materials using a bifilar transmission line for material characterisation. The investigation targets liquids and semi-solid media, including gels, pastes, and moist soils, with dielectric properties measured across the frequency range of 0.3 to 1.5 GHz. Conventional dielectric measurement methods often face limitations when dealing with heterogeneous or high-loss materials, such as soil, biological tissues, and various liquid compositions. Leveraging a dual-rod configuration, the proposed bifilar line enables a precise dielectric assessment by optimising the interaction between the sample and the measurement field. Experimental results demonstrate the technique’s efficacy in capturing key dielectric parameters, including permittivity and loss tangent. The findings suggest that this approach not only enhances measurement accuracy for complex materials but also offers potential for in-situ and real-time applications in environmental monitoring, agriculture, and material science. • A multi-length bifilar probe for extracting dielectric properties. • Aimed at accurate characterisation of liquids, and semi-solids using proposed method. • Handles homogeneous and heterogeneous materials via an averaged multi-rod response. • Validated on soil; enables realtime soil-moisture monitoring and pollution detection.
Authors
- Julian Bonello (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1298-7645)
- Raffaele Persico (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3213-2879)
- Andrea Cataldo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9031-7690)
- Iman Farhat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8401-997X)
- Lourdes Farrugia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1816-0657)
- Justin Stellini
Institutions
- University of Malta (MT)
- Innovation Engineering (Italy) (IT)
- University of Calabria (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Measurement Sensors
- Published
- 2025-10-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measen.2025.101973
- Primary Topic
- Soil Moisture and Remote Sensing
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00