Publication Date
2015
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Fred Garber (Committee Member), Michael Saville (Advisor), Yan Zhuang (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE)
Abstract
Recent advances with manufactured electromagnetic materials known as metamaterials are paving the way to use microwave technology in agricultural development and harvesting. It has been proposed that split ring resonators could be placed on the surface of fruit or vegetables such that the resonant behavior may be monitored and used to estimate the ripeness level. The method is non-destructive and could enable monitoring of large quantities of produce or even be tailored to hand-held devices for consumers. However, the understanding of corresponding changes in the proposed device's resonant behaviors and ripeness levels are limited. In addition, fruit and vegetables are highly lossy at microwave frequencies making it difficult to establish resonant behavior. Here, the split ring resonator design is studied to determine which design parameters are most influential on maintaining a resonant behavior in the presence of highly lossy media. The results show that for small array sizes, the radial spacing between the rings and the radial widths of the microstrip rings have the most significant influence. However, resonance is only achievable in the presence of low to moderate loss levels. The results also suggest that a large array of resonators may be sufficient to maintain resonance at the loss levels of certain fruit.
Page Count
66
Department or Program
Department of Electrical Engineering
Year Degree Awarded
2015
Copyright
Copyright 2015, all rights reserved. My ETD will be available under the "Fair Use" terms of copyright law.
