Homodyne vector network analysis as a tool for the real-time measurement of electrical material parameter distributions in the field

Abstract

Abstract The spatial distribution of electrical material parameters (e. g. permittivity and conductivity) can be a valuable indicator of the state of a chemical process or the condition of the processing system. Unfortunately, there are very few measurement systems that could handle this task in the field at low cost and with small shape factors. A potential solution currently under research for the determination of material parameter distributions is based on electromagnetic resonances inside chemical reactors. In the laboratory, vector network analyzers (VNA) and personal computers are used, which is expensive. This contribution reports on an application-specific stand-alone homodyne VNA with integrated data processing as an effort to transfer the laboratory-proven method to the field. The quality of the approach, validated by comparison with commercial VNAs, is shown to suffice for typical field applications.