Design and Fabrication of Modified SMA-Connector Sensor for Detecting Water Adulteration in Honey and Natural Latex

Abstract

A detection system for water adulteration in honey is proposed. It consists of a modified SMA-connector sensor and a vector network analyzer. A modified SMA-connector sensor is applied to measure complex relative permittivity, electrical conductivity, and phase constant of honey samples with the open-ended method. The system is tested in the frequency range of 0.5–4.0 GHz at the sample temperature of 25 °C. The relationships between the complex relative permittivity, electrical conductivity, the phase constant, and the honey samples with different concentrations (0–30%w/w) are determined. The experimental results show that the real part of the complex relative permittivity is significantly proportional in honey samples with adulteration of water in the range of 0–30%w/w. The frequency of 0.6 GHz is a suitable frequency for detection with a real part of complex relative permittivity as an indicator. The frequency of 3.74 GHz is an appropriate frequency for detection with electrical conductivity as in indicator while the frequency of 4.0 GHz is suitable for detection with phase constant as an indicator. In addition, the data are analyzed with regression analysis. This technique is also performed on natural latex samples to determine the dry rubber content. The frequency of 0.5 GHz is a suitable frequency with a real part of complex relative permittivity as an indicator while the frequency of 4.0 GHz is a suitable frequency with an imaginary part of complex relative permittivity, electrical conductivity, and phase constant as the indicators. The results demonstrate that it is possible to apply this technique to determine the dry rubber content in the natural latex samples as well.