Detection of Salt and Sugar Contents in Water on the Basis of Dielectric Properties Using Microstrip Antenna-Based Sensor

This paper presents a microstrip antenna-based sensor for detecting salt and sugar in water. The patch antenna is low-cost and low-profile and is modeled to transmit and receive an electromagnetic signal. The presented antenna consists of a crescent-shaped patch and slotted partial ground. The compact size of the antenna is 32 mm \times22 mm. High-frequency structure simulator and computer simulation technology are used to simulate and analyze the characteristics of the antenna. The presented antenna achieves a 10 dB return loss from 2.50 to 18 GHz with 6.10 dBi of maximum gain, considerable efficiency, and consistent radiation patterns. The presented antenna is used as a sensor to detect salt and sugar in water in terms of reflection coefficient based on the dielectric properties of the solution. The percentage of salt and sugar in water changes the dielectric properties of the solution and the reflection coefficients subsequently. Results during the practical observations show that the reflection coefficient decreases with the increment of salt and sugar contents in the solution. With the excellent basic wideband antenna performances, the antenna shows good sensitivity to detect salt and sugar content in water. The presented antenna is suitable to be used in wideband wireless communications as well as wideband sensor applications.