Sensing system and method
First Claim
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1. A sensing system comprising:
- a material comprising a matrix and a plurality of non-insulating particles substantially equally spaced within the matrix such that the composite material has coherent electrical periodicity in at least one dimension resulting in periodic conductivity or a periodic dielectric constant, wherein the non-insulating particles do not have microwave resonance and are purely reflective; and
a receiver arranged to receive a source RF signal from an RF source for interrogating the material and a returned RF signal wherein the returned RF signal is reflected from the non-insulating particles to produce the returned RF signal;
wherein interrogating the material comprises exciting the material into an electromagnetic field mode to generate an evanescent surface field profile at the surface of the material and coupling the source RF signal to the generated evanescent surface field profile, thereby achieving efficient energy transfer to the material;
wherein a change in the position of one or more of the non-insulating particles causes the returned RF signal to change, such that a change in the crystallinity of the material is determined from the returned RF signal.
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Abstract
A sensing system which comprises a material (30) formed of a matrix and a plurality of non-insulating particles (40) substantially equally spaced within the matrix such that the material has coherent electrical periodicity in at least one dimension; and a receiver (10), the receiver arranged to receive a source RF signal and a returned RF signal, the source RF signal being reflected by the non-insulating particles to produce the returned RF signal. A change in the position of one or more of the non-insulating particles causes the returned RF signal to change, such that a change in a property of the material can be determined from the returned RF signal.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A sensing system comprising:
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a material comprising a matrix and a plurality of non-insulating particles substantially equally spaced within the matrix such that the composite material has coherent electrical periodicity in at least one dimension resulting in periodic conductivity or a periodic dielectric constant, wherein the non-insulating particles do not have microwave resonance and are purely reflective; and a receiver arranged to receive a source RF signal from an RF source for interrogating the material and a returned RF signal wherein the returned RF signal is reflected from the non-insulating particles to produce the returned RF signal; wherein interrogating the material comprises exciting the material into an electromagnetic field mode to generate an evanescent surface field profile at the surface of the material and coupling the source RF signal to the generated evanescent surface field profile, thereby achieving efficient energy transfer to the material; wherein a change in the position of one or more of the non-insulating particles causes the returned RF signal to change, such that a change in the crystallinity of the material is determined from the returned RF signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of sensing a change in a property of a material, the material comprising a matrix and a plurality of non-insulating particles substantially equally spaced within the matrix such that the composite material has coherent electrical periodicity in at least one dimension resulting in periodic conductivity or a periodic dielectric constant, wherein the non-insulating particles do not have microwave resonance and are purely reflective, the method comprising the steps of:
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interrogating the material with a source RF signal from an RF source so as to excite the material into an electromagnetic field mode to generate an evanescent surface field profile at the surface of the material and couple the source RF signal to the generated evanescent surface field, thereby achieving efficient energy transfer to the material; receiving a returned RF signal wherein the returned RF signal is reflected from the non-insulating particles; and determining the change in the crystallinity of the material from a change in the returned RF signal that is caused by a change in the position of one or more of the non-insulating particles. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification