Systems, methods, and software for determining spatially variable distributions of the dielectric properties of a heterogeneous material
First Claim
1. A method of determining spatially variable distributions of one or more electrical properties of a material having at least one dielectric constant, the method comprising:
- disposing an insulated parallel waveguide proximal to the material;
using the insulated parallel waveguide to perform a time domain reflectometry (TDR) measurement to acquire a first temporal profile of apparent reflectance of the waveguide;
converting the first temporal profile of apparent reflectance of the waveguide to a second temporal profile of a quantity that is indicative of the one or more electrical properties of a portion of the material adjacent to the waveguide;
converting the second temporal profile to a spatial profile of moisture content of the material by correlating impedance characteristics associated with the waveguide to the one or more electrical properties of the portion of the material adjacent to the waveguide as a function of a predetermined relationship; and
making the spatial profile of moisture content available to a user for analysis or other use.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems, methods, and software for measuring the spatially variable relative dielectric permittivity of materials along a linear or otherwise configured sensor element, and more specifically the spatial variability of soil moisture in one dimension as inferred from the dielectric profile of the soil matrix surrounding a linear sensor element. Various methods provided herein combine advances in the processing of time domain reflectometry data with innovations in physical sensing apparatuses. These advancements enable high temporal (and thus spatial) resolution of electrical reflectance continuously along an insulated waveguide that is permanently emplaced in contact with adjacent soils. The spatially resolved reflectance is directly related to impedance changes along the waveguide that are dominated by electrical permittivity contrast due to variations in soil moisture. Various methods described herein are thus able to monitor soil moisture in profile with high spatial resolution.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method of determining spatially variable distributions of one or more electrical properties of a material having at least one dielectric constant, the method comprising:
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disposing an insulated parallel waveguide proximal to the material; using the insulated parallel waveguide to perform a time domain reflectometry (TDR) measurement to acquire a first temporal profile of apparent reflectance of the waveguide; converting the first temporal profile of apparent reflectance of the waveguide to a second temporal profile of a quantity that is indicative of the one or more electrical properties of a portion of the material adjacent to the waveguide; converting the second temporal profile to a spatial profile of moisture content of the material by correlating impedance characteristics associated with the waveguide to the one or more electrical properties of the portion of the material adjacent to the waveguide as a function of a predetermined relationship; and making the spatial profile of moisture content available to a user for analysis or other use. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium containing machine-executable instructions for performing a method of determining spatially variable distributions of one or more electrical properties of a material having at least one dielectric constant, said machine-readable instructions comprising:
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a first set of machine-executable instructions for using an insulated parallel waveguide disposed proximal to the material to perform a time domain reflectometry measurement to acquire a first temporal profile of apparent reflectance of the waveguide; a second set of machine-executable instructions for converting the first temporal profile of apparent reflectance of the waveguide to a second temporal profile of a quantity that is indicative of the one or more electrical properties of a portion of the material adjacent to the waveguide; a third set of machine-executable instructions for converting the second temporal profile to a spatial profile of moisture content of the material by correlating impedance characteristics associated with the waveguide to the one or more electrical properties of the portion of the material adjacent to the waveguide as a function of a predetermined relationship; and a fourth set of machine-executable instructions for making the spatial profile of moisture content available to a user for analysis or other use.
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Specification