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The open-ended coaxial probe method is the most commonly used approach for retrieving the dielectric properties of human tissues. This method is also often used to identify cancer because of the difference between the dielectric properties of normal and malignant tissues. This technique not only ensures quick measurement but also has a good identification effect. Although it has the potential to be utilized in tumor surgeries, its clinical application is hindered by the lack of an established identifiable tumor size. In this study, we examine the minimum detectable size of liver tumors by simulation and Mann–Whitney U test. Then, a phantom experiment was conducted to verify the simulation results. For Probes 1, 2, 3, and 4, the smallest cancer tumor detectable size is 0.59, 1.05, 1.85, and 2.95 mm radius, respectively. Furthermore, an evaluation approach for investigating the minimum detectable size of tumors through different probes is proposed. The results showed that the identification sizes were affected by the frequency and size of the probe. Moreover, the minimum detectable size of liver cancer and the crucial factors were investigated in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on the effects of vermicomposting on various soil properties, particularly emphasizing the dielectric characteristics of soil. Vermicomposting is known to significantly enhance soil fertility and improve its physical aspects such as aeration, porosity and water retention. In this analysis, a modified probe arrangement has been employed to determine how varying levels of vermicompost influence the soil's dielectric properties within the radio and microwave spectrum (10 MHz-14 GHz). A modified Dak-12 open-ended coaxial probe, paired with a vector network analyzer, was utilized for this purpose to overcome the drawbacks of standard arrangement. The results show that vermicompost strongly affects the soil's physical attributes (pH, bulk density, porosity) and also its chemical properties, along with its dielectric behavior. The study further explored the role of different factors such as the concentration of vermicompost, frequency and temperature on soil's dielectric response. To accurately and swiftly gauge these effects, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) has been employed to predict the dielectric properties (ε' and ε") of the soil. The high precision of these models, with R2 values of 0.9729 for ε' and 0.9487 for ε", underscores their effectiveness in evaluating the impact of vermicompost on various soil properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adrenal gland-induced hypertension results from underlying adrenal gland disorders including Conn's syndrome, Cushing's syndrome, and Pheochromocytoma. These adrenal disorders are a risk for cardiovascular and renal morbidity and mortality. Clinically, treatment for adrenal gland-induced hypertension involves a pharmaceutical or surgical approach. The former presents very significant side effects whereas the latter can be ineffective in cases where the adrenal disorder reoccurs in the remaining contralateral adrenal gland. Due to the limitations of existing treatment methods, minimally invasive treatment options like microwave ablation (MWA) have received significant attention for treating adrenal gland disorders. A precise comprehension of the dielectric properties of human adrenal glands will help to tailor energy delivery for MWA therapy, thus offering the potential to optimise treatments and minimise damage to surrounding tissues. This study reports the ex vivo dielectric properties of human adrenal glands, including the cortex, medulla, capsule, and tumours, based on the data obtained from four patients (diagnosed with Conn's syndrome, Cushing's syndrome, and Pheochromocytoma) who underwent unilateral adrenalectomy at the University Hospital Galway, Ireland. An open-ended coaxial probe measurement technique was used to measure the dielectric properties for a frequency range of 0.5–8.5 GHz. The dielectric properties were fitted using a two-pole Debye model, and a weighted least squares method was employed to optimise the model parameters. Moreover, the dielectric properties of adrenal tissues and tumours were compared across frequencies commonly used in MWA, including 915 MHz, 2.45 GHz, and 5.8 GHz. The study found that the dielectric properties of adrenal tumours were influenced by the presence of lipid-rich adenomas, and the dielectric properties of Cushing's syndrome tumour were lowest in comparison to the tumours in patients diagnosed with Conn's syndrome and Pheochromocytoma. Furthermore, a notable difference was observed in the dielectric properties of the medulla and cortex among patients diagnosed with Conn's syndrome, Cushing's syndrome, and Pheochromocytoma. These findings have significant implications for the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal tumours, including the optimisation of MWA therapy for precise ablation of adrenal masses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the performance of various MR electrical properties tomography (MR-EPT) methods at 3 T in terms of absolute quantification and spatial resolution limit for electrical conductivity. Methods: Absolute quantification as well as spatial resolution performance were evaluated on homogeneous phantoms and a phantom with holes of different sizes, respectively. Ground-truth conductivities were measured with an open-ended coaxial probe connected to a vector network analyzer (VNA). Four widely used MR-EPT reconstruction methods were investigated: phase-based Helmholtz (PB), phase-based convection-reaction (PB-cr), image-based (IB), and generalized-image-based (GIB). These methods were compared using the same complex images from a 1 mm-isotropic UTE sequence. Alternative transceive phase acquisition sequences were also compared in PB and PB-cr. Results: In large homogeneous phantoms, all methods showed a strong correlation with ground truth conductivities (r >0.99); however, GIB was the best in terms of accuracy, spatial uniformity, and robustness to boundary artifacts. In the resolution phantom, the normalized root-mean-squared error of all methods grew rapidly (>0.40) when the hole size was below 10 mm, with simplified methods (PB and IB), or below 5 mm, with generalized methods (PB-cr and GIB). Conclusion: VNA measurements are essential to assess the accuracy of MR-EPT. In this study, all tested MR-EPT methods correlated strongly with the VNAmeasurements. The UTE sequence is recommended for MR-EPT, with the GIB method providing good accuracy for structures down to 5 mm. Structures below 5mmmay still be detected in the conductivitymaps, butwith significantly lower accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric characterization is extremely promising in medical contexts because it offers insights into the electromagnetic properties of biological tissues for the diagnosis of tumor diseases. This study introduces a promising approach to improve accuracy in the dielectric characterization of millimeter-sized biopsies based on the use of a customized electromagnetic characterization system by adopting a coated open-ended coaxial probe. Our approach aims to accelerate biopsy analysis without sample manipulation. Through comprehensive numerical simulations and experiments, we evaluated the effectiveness of a metal-coating system in comparison to a dielectric coating with the aim for replicating a real scenario: the use of a needle biopsy core with the tissue inside. The numerical analyses highlighted a substantial improvement in the reconstruction of the dielectric properties, particularly in managing the electric field distribution and mitigating fringing field effects. Experimental validation using bovine liver samples revealed highly accurate measurements, particularly in the real part of the permittivity, showing errors lower than 1% compared to the existing literature data. These results represent a significant advancement for the dielectric characterization of biopsy specimens in a rapid, precise, and non-invasive manner. This study underscores the robustness and reliability of our innovative approach, demonstrating the convergence of numerical analyses and empirical validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adrenal gland-induced hypertension, also known as secondary hypertension, is a medical condition caused by an underlying adrenal pathology, most typically adrenocortical adenomas. Current clinical practices involve pharmacotherapy or surgical resection to treat adrenal gland diseases that cause hypertension. However, due to the limitations of these treatment options, microwave ablation (MWA) has emerged as a promising minimally invasive alternative. An accurate understanding of the dielectric properties of adrenal glands would support the further development and optimization of MWA technology for treating adrenal tumors. Only a few studies have examined the dielectric properties of both human and animal adrenal glands, and the sample sizes of these studies have been relatively small. Therefore, further dielectric data of human and animal adrenal glands are warranted. This paper presents the ex vivo dielectric properties of the ovine adrenal glands (medulla and cortex) and summarizes the published literature on dielectric data of adrenal glands from porcine, bovine, ovine, and human samples in the microwave frequency range to analyze the consistency and reliability of the reported data. The dielectric properties of the ovine adrenal glands (N  = 8) were measured using an open-ended coaxial probe measurement technique at frequencies ranging from 0.5 to 8.5 GHz. This study also investigated the temperature-dependent dielectric properties of the ovine adrenal medulla ranging from 37 to 64°C at frequencies ranging from 0.5 to 8.5 GHz. The dielectric properties of the ovine adrenal medulla measured in this study were found to be consistent with the literature. Moreover, the review suggests that variations exist in the dielectric properties of the adrenal medulla and cortex among species. The study also found that the dielectric properties of the adrenal medulla decrease with increasing temperature, similar to other tissues for which temperature-dependent dielectric data have been reported. This summary of dielectric data of adrenal glands and the temperature-dependent dielectric properties of the ovine adrenal medulla will accelerate the development of MWA technologies for hypertension treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the significant number of studies published on the measurements of complex permittivity of biological tissues in the last thirty years, implementing a successful measurement program for dielectric measurements can still present a challenge for researchers. Most problems are not theoretical but of methodological or practical nature. In this article, lessons learned from experiences with goal-oriented measurements are presented by structuring them into practical guidelines for efficient and useful measurements of dielectric properties of biological tissues, aimed at addressing gaps in knowledge. Issues related to calibration, validation of the measurement system and data collection procedures are addressed from a practical perspective. This will help support reproducibility of measurements. In addition, guidelines for data analysis and data reporting are provided. The latter is also supported by a data analysis tool developed in MATLAB, made available as open source. This facilitates the harmonisation and merging of different datasets, ease of interpreting and re-using of data and comparison of data across studies. Additionally, a data repository is presented for uploading of dielectric data of biological tissues, along with the corresponding meta-data describing the experiments. These guidelines are the result of the work carried out by a dedicated working group in the project COST Action MyWAVE.

Tissue dehydration is known to have adverse effects on health and is highly challenging to characterize in vitro due to the complexity of the cell/tissue organisation. There have been a large number of studies reporting the dielectric properties of animal and human tissue explants or bodily fluids such as urine or blood over a wide frequency range from 10 Hz to 100 GHz. However, variations in blood composition involving the cell type, haematocrit (HCT) protein levels, ionic conductivity, electrolyte or glucose concentration will affect the dielectric measurements. The present study examined the effects of physiological osmotic solutions with NaCl (280 mOsmol/kg to 300 mOsmol/kg), HCT (35% to 50%) and albumin (3.5 g/dl to 5.5 g/dl) isolated from bovine blood on the dielectric properties measured at frequencies spanning from 0.5 GHz to 20 GHz using an open-ended co-axial probe. Measurements demonstrated linear correlations between permittivity and loss factor of blood solutions with varying HCT levels, albumin or osmolality such that a high protein concentration reduced the dielectric response in a dose-dependent manner. Whilst the spectral trends for the permittivity response to HCT and albumin were similar in a concentration-dependent manner, the loss factor profile was influenced by osmolality of the solution. In summary, we characterized the dependence of the microwave dielectric properties of blood on HCT, albumin and osmolality. The dielectric measurement technique has the potential to determine hydration levels for future diagnostic and therapeutic devices.

The paper discusses the basic principles of functioning of resonator sensors with a movable probeforming central conductor and approaches aimed at optimizing their measuring characteristics. The effectiveness of changing the coefficient of inclusion of an object in the electromagnetic field of the resonator is shown by introducing a mechanism into the sensor design that provides axial movement of the central conductor of the coaxial. This design allows the probing tip to be positioned both coplanar with the end aperture and displaced inside or outside the coaxial. It is shown that in order to diagnose objects with low dielectric losses, the probing tip must be pulled out of the coaxial, thereby transferring the probe to the mode of a monopole antenna. When the object has high dielectric losses, the required sensitivity of the sensor is achieved by shifting the probing tip into the inside of the coaxial, and the shortened capacitance mode is implemented. Quantitative data are presented that characterize the operation of the tunable sensor within each of the two modes of operation considered, as well as convincing of the need to optimize the geometry of the resonator probe (RP) construct. The contribution of losses associated with the appearance of a wave field, the mismatch of propagation conditions in the volume of a resonant measuring transducer (RMT), as well as techniques aimed at eliminating their influence is shown. A comparative analysis of the use of conical and cylindrical probes as RMT is presented. It is shown that the shielding of samples makes much more sense for the use of a cylindrical construct in the diagnostics of objects with a low loss tangent. It is shown that it is possible to significantly reduce the influence of interfering factors caused by a change in the geometry of the sensor aperture assembly when the probe tip is moved, by using a hybrid signal (δQ/Q)/(δf/f). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric characterization has significant potential in several medical applications, providing valuable insights into the electromagnetic properties of biological tissues for disease diagnosis, treatment planning, and monitoring of therapeutic interventions. This work presents the use of a custom-designed electromagnetic characterization system, based on an open-ended coaxial probe, for discriminating between benign and malignant breast tissues in a clinical setting. The probe's development involved a well-balanced compromise between physical feasibility and its combined use with a reconstruction algorithm known as the virtual transmission line model (VTLM). Immediately following the biopsy procedure, the dielectric properties of the breast tissues were reconstructed, enabling tissue discrimination based on a rule-of-thumb using the obtained dielectric parameters. A comparative analysis was then performed by analyzing the outcomes of the dielectric investigation with respect to conventional histological results. The experimental procedure took place at Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Toledo—Hospital Virgen de la Salud, Spain, where excised breast tissues were collected and subsequently analyzed using the dielectric characterization system. A comprehensive statistical evaluation of the probe's performance was carried out, obtaining a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 81.6%, 61.5%, and 73.4%, respectively, compared to conventional histological assessment, considered as the gold standard in this investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Meningiomas are the most common primary central nervous system tumors, and surgery is their primary treatment of choice. The surgical intervention aims for the maximum extent of tumor resection whilst preserving the brain's neurological functions. The effectiveness of such intervention thus depends on the capability to intraoperatively discriminate between the meningioma tissue and the surrounding brain white matter and gray matter. This study investigated dielectric contrast as a potential physical biomarker for meningioma discrimination. Dielectric contrast is based on the difference in complex permittivity, a physical property of tissues, measurable by dielectric spectroscopy. This study shows that the dielectric contrast is relevant as a potential physical biomarker to discriminate the meningioma tissue from the surrounding brain tissues. Such a biomarker has a meaningful potential to make a positive impact on the management of neurooncological patients in terms of intraoperative tumor discrimination, as well as future diagnostic or therapeutic applications. The effectiveness of surgical resection of meningioma, the most common primary CNS tumor, depends on the capability to intraoperatively discriminate between the meningioma tissue and the surrounding brain white and gray matter tissues. Aiming to find a potential biomarker based on tissue permittivity, dielectric spectroscopy of meningioma, white matter, and gray matter ex vivo tissues was performed using the open-ended coaxial probe method in the microwave frequency range from 0.5 to 18 GHz. The averages and the 95% confidence intervals of the measured permittivity for each tissue were compared. The results showed the absence of overlap between the 95% confidence intervals for meningioma tissue and for brain white and gray matter, indicating a significant difference in average permittivity (p ≤ 0.05) throughout almost the entire measured frequency range, with the most pronounced contrast found between 2 GHz and 5 GHz. The discovered contrast is relevant as a potential physical biomarker to discriminate meningioma tissue from the surrounding brain tissues by means of permittivity measurement, e.g., for intraoperative meningioma margin assessment. The permittivity models for each tissue, developed in this study as its byproducts, will allow more accurate electromagnetic modeling of brain tumor and healthy tissues, facilitating the development of new microwave-based medical devices and tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open-ended coaxial probe method is one of the most common modalities in measuring dielectric properties (DPs) of biological tissues. Due to the significant differences between the tumors and normal tissues in DPs, the technique can be used to detect skin cancer in the early stage. Although various studies have been reported, systematic assessment is in urgent need to advance it to clinical applications, for its parameters interactions and detecting limitations remained unclear. In this study, we aim to provide a comprehensive examination of this method, including the minimum detectable tumor size by using a three-layer skin model via simulation and demonstrated that open-ended coaxial probe method can be used for detection of early-stage skin cancer. The smallest detecting size are subject to different subtypes: for BCC, inside the skin is 0.5 mm radius × 0.1 mm height; for SCC, inside the skin is 1.4 mm × 1.3 mm in radius and height; the smallest distinguishing size of BCC is 0.6 mm × 0.7 mm in radius and height; for SCC is 1.0 mm × 1.0 mm in radius and height; for MM is 0.7 mm × 0.4 mm in radius and height. The experiment results showed that sensitivity was affected by tumor dimension, probe size, skin height, and cancer subtype. The probe is more sensitive to cylinder tumor radius than height growing on the surface of the skin while the smallest size probe is the most sensitive among the working probes. We provide a detailed systematic evaluation of the parameters employed in the method for further applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric spectroscopy (DS) is the primary technique to observe the dielectric properties of biomaterials. DS extracts complex permittivity spectra from measured frequency responses such as the scattering parameters or impedances of materials over the frequency band of interest. In this study, an open-ended coaxial probe and vector network analyzer were used to characterize the complex permittivity spectra of protein suspensions of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and human osteogenic sarcoma (Saos-2) cells in distilled water at frequencies ranging from 10 MHz to 43.5 GHz. The complex permittivity spectra of the protein suspensions of hMSCs and Saos-2 cells revealed two major dielectric dispersions, β and γ , offering three distinctive features for detecting the differentiation of stem cells: the distinctive values in the real and imaginary parts of the complex permittivity spectra as well as the relaxation frequency in the β -dispersion. The protein suspensions were analyzed using a single-shell model, and a dielectrophoresis (DEP) study was performed to determine the relationship between DS and DEP. In immunohistochemistry, antigen–antibody reactions and staining are required to identify the cell type; in contrast, DS eliminates the use of biological processes, while also providing numerical values of the dielectric permittivity of the material-under-test to detect differences. This study suggests that the application of DS can be expanded to detect stem cell differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic matter (OM) is one of the parameters which is commonly ignored while studying the properties of soil but it strongly affects and alters soil's behavior and characteristics. The presented study analyzes the properties of soil like bulk density, and dielectric properties (ε ′ and ε ″) , penetration depth, emissivity, and conductivity as a function of OM (0.78–17.28% of total soil mass), moisture content (15–25% volumetric basis), and frequency (200 MHz–14 GHz). The properties have been investigated using a vector network analyzer (VNA), and an open-ended coaxial probe (85070E, Agilent Technologies). The observed results showed that in addition to moisture content and frequency, the amount of OM present in soil strongly affects the properties of soil. The OM present in soil improves soil structure as well as binding forces in soil water molecules. Third-order Response surface method (RSM) regression models are generated to estimate soil's properties as a function of OM, frequency, and moisture content. These models show a R2 score of 0.9754, 0.9964, 0.9204, 0.9962, 0.9827, 0.9859 for bulk density, ε ′ , ε ″ , penetration depth, conductivity, and emissivity, respectively. These models can be helpful for fast and accurate prediction of properties of soil under the effect of OM, moisture content, and frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate how the freezing and thawing of biological tissues affect their complex permittivity in the microwave frequency range from 0.5 MHz to 18 GHz. We measured the complex permittivity of ex vivo bovine tissues, including brain white and grey matter, liver, and muscle, using an open-ended coaxial probe. Bovine tissues were chosen for their availability and similarity to human tissue permittivity. The samples were measured at 25 °C, before they were frozen either in a commercial freezer below −18 °C or in liquid nitrogen, nominally at −196 °C. The measured permittivity before freezing was compared to the permittivity measured after freezing and thawing the tissues back to 25 °C. Statistical analysis of the results showed a statistically significant change in permittivity after freezing and thawing by both methods for all the measured tissues, at least in some parts of the measured frequency range. The largest difference was observed for the white matter, while the liver had the smallest percent change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a technique for dielectric property retrieval through Debye parameter reconstruction from open-ended coaxial probe (OECP) response. Debye parameters were obtained with the application of a deep learning (DL) model to the reflection coefficient response of the OECP when terminated with a material under test. The OECP was modelled with the well-known admittance technique from 0.5 to 6 GHz with 20 MHz resolution. A dataset was generated using the admittance technique and obtained data was utilized to design the DL model. As part of the standard procedure, the dataset was separated to train, validate, and test parts by allocating the 80%, 10%, and 10% of the dataset to each section, respectively. Obtained percent relative error for Debye parameters were 1.86±3.01%, 3.33±9.52%, and 2.07±7.42% for $\epsilon _{s}$ , $\epsilon _\infty $ and $\tau $ , respectively. To further test the constructed DL model, OECP responses were measured at the same frequency band when it was terminated with five different standard liquids, four mixtures, and a gel-like material. Reconstructed Debye parameters from the DL model were used to retrieve the complex dielectric properties and obtained results were compared with the literature data. Obtained mean percent relative error was ranging from 1.21±0.06 to 10.89±0.08 within the frequency band of interest.

Accurate knowledge about the dielectric properties of biological tissues in the microwave frequency range may lead to advancement of biomedical applications based on microwave technology. However, the published data are very scarce, especially for human brain tissues. The aim of this work was to measure and report the complex permittivity of brain white matter, grey matter and cerebellum. Complex permittivity was measured on human, bovine and porcine brain tissues in the microwave frequency range from 0.5 to 18 GHz using an open-ended coaxial probe. The results present a valuable addition to the available data on the brain tissue complex permittivity. Some noticeable variations between the results lead to several conclusions. Complex permittivity variation within the same tissue type of the individual species was comparable to interspecies variation. The difference was prominent between human brains obtained from autopsies, while bovine brains obtained from healthy animals showed very similar complex permittivity. We hypothesize that the difference might have been caused by the basic pathologies of the patients, where the associated therapies could have affected the brain water content. We also examined the effect of excised tissue degradation on its complex permittivity over the course of three days, and the results suggest the gradual dehydration of the samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric behavior of soil has utmost applications in microwave remote sensing and soil treatment. In the present study, the soil's dielectric properties (Ɛ' and Ɛ") were measured using the vector network analyzer and an open-ended coaxial probe (85070E, Agilent Technologies) in the region of 0.2 to 14 GHz. The observed results showed that Ɛ' and Ɛ" strongly depend on frequency, texture, moisture content and temperature. A deep neural network (DNN) based multivariable regression model has been developed to model their behavior, using experimentally observed data to learn its parameters automatically. It shows a five-fold cross-validation root mean square errors (RMSE) of 0.0258 and 0.0336, and R2-scores of 1.0000 and 0.9998, between actual recorded and predicted values of Ɛ' and Ɛ", respectively. The results of the proposed DNN-based model have been compared with the response surface method (RSM) based model; among these, the DNN-based model shows significantly better results. Further, the DNN-based estimates of Ɛ' and Ɛ" for loam texture at a moisture content of 18% (i.e. in between observed experiments of 15% and 20%) are made and plotted with actual observed values at 15% and 20% to verify the predictive ability of the proposed DNN-based model. It shows an acceptable estimate of dielectric properties and the effectiveness of the fast and innovative DNN-based approach for predicting soil's dielectric properties depending upon multiple factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aim was to validate that dielectric permittivity measurement using the open-ended coaxial probe can be reliably modeled using electromagnetic modeling and simulations, followed by the postprocessing calculations based on the simple capacitive-load model. Saline solutions with various NaCl concentrations were used as materials under test (MUTs) to investigate how ionic conductivity affects the model validity. Two different solvers and simulation methods were used: FEKO for the frequency domain and CST for the time domain. Furthermore, we performed physical experiments with the same probe and MUTs, again implementing the capacitive-load model on the measurement data to observe the model validity. Relative error of the capacitive-load model with respect to the reference permittivity values, both in measurements and simulations, was within 10% for all cases except for the measured ε r ′ of 1M solution at the lowest frequencies. The model yielded average relative errors well below 1% for the physiological saline, which is relevant for biological materials. The error increased for higher concentrations and for the lowest simulated frequencies but was within the declared measurement accuracy of the probe itself. This makes the simple capacitive-load model valid for all analyzed concentrations in the microwave frequency range from 0.5 to 18 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a novel dielectric spectroscopic technique to investigate the milk freshness and adulterated agents using a customized, open-ended, coaxial probe. An inversely proportional relationship was found between temperature and shelf-life and the real part of the complex permittivity (e') of the samples at 0.1-3GHz. At 2GHz, a linear relationship was found in e' and e", storage time, and water content. In addition, total of five adulterants' agents were investigated and a linear relationship was found between both e' and e" parts, and their concentrations (R² > 0.99). This approach could be the potential basis of rapid online milk quality monitoring in milk production facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Dielectric materials play a crucial role in assessing and refining the measurement performance of dielectric properties for specific tasks. The availability of viable and standardized dielectric materials could greatly enhance medical applications related to dielectric properties. However, obtaining reliable phantoms with designated dielectric properties across a specified frequency range remains challenging. In this study, we propose software to easily determine the components of dielectric materials in the frequency range of 16 MHz to 3 GHz., Methods: A total of 184 phantoms were fabricated and measured using open-ended coaxial probe method. The relationship among dielectric properties, frequency, and the components of dielectric materials was fitted through feedforward neural networks. Software was developed to quickly calculate the composition of dielectric materials., Results: We performed validation experiments including blood, muscle, skin, and lung tissue phantoms at 128 MHz, 298 MHz, 915 MHz, and 2.45 GHz. Compared with literature values, the relative errors of dielectric properties are less than 15 %., Conclusions: This study establishes a reliable method for fabricating dielectric materials with designated dielectric properties and frequency through the development of the software. This research holds significant importance in enhancing medical research and applications that rely on tissue simulation using dielectric phantoms., (© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)

This study distinguishes the design and analysis of a coaxial probe for measurement of biological body dielectric properties, in this measurement estimating the human tissue-equivalent liquid (TEL) permittivity and conductivity, to monitor and maintain the international standards for specific absorption rate (SAR) evaluation over the frequency band of 800 MHz-5 GHz. In addition, deionized (DI) water and ethanediol dielectric properties have been evaluated and the designed probe results compared to the commercial Dielectric Assessment kit (DAK) 3.5 probe. The obtained results are in good agreement with each other, moreover, the SAR calculation and each source of uncertainty budget analysis are estimated. Therefore, this fabricated probe may be suitable for liquid dielectric properties measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter we study the effect of freezing and defrosting on the dielectric properties of biological tissues. The electromagnetic characterization of tissues at microwave frequencies is crucial for the development of microwave-based biomedical devices. These measurements are often not practical, as tissue degradation restricts the time available between tissue excision and dielectric measurements. For this reason, measurement of tissues that underwent freezing and defrosting may provide researchers with more flexibility in setting measurement campaigns, thus speeding up the development of microwave-based biomedical devices. To this end, this letter presents dielectric measurement on frozen and defrosted tissue, which translates into the following objectives: first, investigate if the dielectric properties of defrosted tissues depend on frozen storage time; second, determine if defrosted tissue dielectric properties differ from those of fresh tissues. As a result, we measure the dielectric properties of ten samples of chicken muscle, bovine liver, and bovine fat, each before and after freezing (up to 14 days) and defrosting. The measurements are performed with the open-ended coaxial probe method at the frequency band of 0.5–8.5 GHz. We observe a slight increase—less than 10%—in complex permittivity of high-water-content tissues (muscle and liver) after defrosting, and negligible effect on fat tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainty analysis is performed on a coaxial probe-based dielectric spectroscopy measurement platform, and its impact on the modeling of dielectric relaxation in an aqueous solution is further analyzed. Based on the characterization theory and calibration principle of the platform, uncertainty due to the different available expressions and parameters of the calibration liquid is calculated. Then, repeatability uncertainty related to drift of the measurement platform, environment change, position variation of the probe immersed in the liquid under test (LUT), and so on is analyzed. Next, three types of water–alcohol mixtures and one group of glucose solutions are measured using the platform. Based on the measurement results, the best model is chosen to analyze the frequency dependence of the solutions’ relaxation properties. In addition, based on the uncertainty analysis, appropriate mathematical formulas are provided to model the composition dependence of the solutions’ relaxation parameters, which can be used as a liquid detection technique for chemical and biological applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an open-ended coaxial probe and a vector network analyzer (VNA) is a conventional technique for the noninvasive and broadband measurement of dielectric permittivity. The method is widely applied to characterize bulk material and liquids and has recently been extended to thin sheet material samples. However, it is commonly believed that the method is not suitable in the high-frequency regime as perfect contact between the probe and the sample is required. Furthermore, the method is limited with respect to the characterization of thin sheet samples made of low-loss materials. In this article, we analyzed the main causes of these limitations, namely, low sensitivity, probe resonances, and the occurrence of air gaps between probe and samples. We also discuss and demonstrate solutions to overcome some of these limitations and improve the accuracy by introducing a lossy platform and an effective air-gap calibration algorithm. These improvements lead to a reliable and robust framework to characterize thin and flat dielectric samples, even at high frequencies and in high-permittivity regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric properties (DPs) of fresh rabbit meat in the microwave range (0.5 to 20 GHz) were determined. Three different muscles (Biceps femoris, Tensor fasciae latae, and Longissimus thoracis) from California rabbits (male and female) were measured with the open‐ended coaxial probe method at temperatures of 20, 40, and 60 °C. To assess the possible effect of age, females of 100 and 180 days old were analyzed. DPs were affected by frequency, muscle type, age, gender, and temperature (p < 0.05). Dielectric constant decreased with increasing frequency. Loss factor decreased from 0.5 to 2.5 GHz due to ionic conduction, followed by an increase up to 20 GHz, dominated by dipolar relaxation. Practical Application: These results are key parameters for further quality sensing applications and for heating processes of meat rabbit using microwaves. Longer penetration depths were achieved at 915 MHz; this frequency is recommended for further applications. Besides, dielectric properties have potential to be a tool for identification of gender and age for slaughtered rabbits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the performance of various MR electrical properties tomography (MR-EPT) methods at 3 T in terms of absolute quantification and spatial resolution limit for electrical conductivity., Methods: Absolute quantification as well as spatial resolution performance were evaluated on homogeneous phantoms and a phantom with holes of different sizes, respectively. Ground-truth conductivities were measured with an open-ended coaxial probe connected to a vector network analyzer (VNA). Four widely used MR-EPT reconstruction methods were investigated: phase-based Helmholtz (PB), phase-based convection-reaction (PB-cr), image-based (IB), and generalized-image-based (GIB). These methods were compared using the same complex images from a 1 mm-isotropic UTE sequence. Alternative transceive phase acquisition sequences were also compared in PB and PB-cr., Results: In large homogeneous phantoms, all methods showed a strong correlation with ground truth conductivities (r > 0.99); however, GIB was the best in terms of accuracy, spatial uniformity, and robustness to boundary artifacts. In the resolution phantom, the normalized root-mean-squared error of all methods grew rapidly (>0.40) when the hole size was below 10 mm, with simplified methods (PB and IB), or below 5 mm, with generalized methods (PB-cr and GIB)., Conclusion: VNA measurements are essential to assess the accuracy of MR-EPT. In this study, all tested MR-EPT methods correlated strongly with the VNA measurements. The UTE sequence is recommended for MR-EPT, with the GIB method providing good accuracy for structures down to 5 mm. Structures below 5 mm may still be detected in the conductivity maps, but with significantly lower accuracy., (© 2024 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

The operation of antennas deployed in mobile terminals is affected by the presence of human tissue in their near-field region. Therefore, testing the antenna performance, when the radiator is located in close vicinity to the user, is of paramount importance for any handset. In order to conduct such a study, knowledge about the dielectric properties of relevant human tissues is needed. In this paper, the results for in vivo measured complex relative permittivity of the dry and wet human hand palm and fingertip of thumb are presented. For the sake of having a broader set of data, the palms of 22 individuals and thumbs of 16 individuals are tested at multiple points. The measurements are conducted over the frequency band of 5-67 GHz by using an open-ended coaxial probe. The single-pole Cole-Cole model is used for fitting the measured results. Furthermore, the fitting parameters for the multi-pole Debye model are extracted by using the Cole-Cole ones. The effect of the difference in the dielectric properties between dry and wet palm on the performance of a dual-element PIFA antenna array (operating in the band of 5.8-7.7 GHz) is numerically studied. Useful finding for antenna designers is that the S-parameters and radiation efficiency of the antennas are insensitive to the change in the complex permittivity of the hand.

Plant diseases have a direct impact on agricultural food production. The time required to detect the pathogen plays a crucial role to minimize the fungal-induced disease damage in crops. Current microbial detection techniques take several days to identify the disease. Microwave detection techniques have proven to be a good candidate in identifying pathogens. Microwave dielectric characterization based on an open-ended coax technique is proposed to electrically characterize pathogens having potential applications in plant diseases. Seven common fungi growing on major crops in the United Arab Emirates were isolated and cultured in the lab. A microwave dielectric assessment kit, based on the open-ended coax technology, was used to obtain the dielectric properties of samples. Our data demonstrated a distinct variability between soil- and air-borne pathogenic fungi. Thus, individual fungi can be identified based on their specific microwave dielectric signature. Factors such as conidial sporulation and hyphal growth and polarization of these fungi may attribute to these electric discrepancies. Dielectric spectroscopy modeling based on the Havriliak-Negami model was used to help to understand the molecular structure interaction with the high-frequency signal. This paper revealed a significant dielectric contrast behavior variation among all seven fungi. This paper also supported previous results obtained by other researchers, which classified fungi into two main groups, namely hydrophilic and hydrophobic. Nonetheless, the fungus Alternaria solani has different behavior from this classification. This research is the first to demonstrate the ability of dielectric microwave characterizations tests to facilitate rapid diagnosis and appropriate treatments of plant diseases.

• The trabecular bone microarchitecture varies within each patient's femoral head. • The dielectric properties vary within each patient's femoral head. • The dielectric properties of bone from osteoporotic and osteoarthritis patients showed significant difference. • A weak correlation exists between dielectric properties and bone volume fraction. • Osteoporotic and osteoarthritis bones can be differentiated based on difference of dielectric properties. The objective of this study is to determine whether in vitro dielectric properties of human trabecular bones, can distinguish between osteoporotic and osteoarthritis patients' bone samples. Specifically this study enlightens intra-patient variation of trabecular bone microarchitecture and dielectric properties, inter-disease comparison of bone dielectric properties, and finally establishes the correlation to traditional bone histomorphometry parameter (bone volume fraction) for diseased bone tissue. Bone cores were obtained from osteoporotic and osteoarthritis patients (n = 12). These were scanned using microCT to examine bone volume fraction. An open-ended coaxial probe measurement technique was employed to measure dielectric properties over the 0.5 – 8.5 GHz frequency range. The dielectric properties of osteoarthritis patients are significantly higher than osteoporotic patients; with an increase of 41% and 45% for relative permittivity and conductivity respectively. The dielectric properties within each patient vary significantly, variation in relative permittivity and conductivity was found to be greater than 25% and 1.4% respectively. A weak correlation (r = 0.5) is observed between relative permittivity and bone volume fraction. Osteoporotic and osteoarthritis bones can be differentiated based on difference of dielectric properties. Although these do not correlate strongly to bone volume fraction, it should be noted that bone volume fraction is a poor predictor of fracture risk. The dielectric properties of bones are found to be influenced by mineralization levels of bones. Therefore, dielectric properties of bones may have potential as a diagnostic measure of osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The open-ended coaxial probe (OECP) method is frequently used for the microwave dielectric property (DP) characterization of high permittivity and conductivity materials due to inherent advantages including minimal sample preparation requirements and broadband measurement capabilities. However, the OECP method is known to suffer from high measurement error. One well-known contributor to the high error rates is tissue heterogeneity, which can potentially be managed through the selection of a probe with a proper sensing depth (SD). The SD of the OECP is dependent on many factors including sample DPs and probe aperture diameter. Although the effects of sample DPs on SD have been investigated to some extent in the literature, the probe aperture diameters, particularly small diameters, have not been fully explored. To this end, the SDs of probes with three different apertures (0.5, 0.9 and 2.2 mm-diameters) were analyzed in this study. Probes’ SDs were first investigated with simulations using a double-layered sample configuration (skin tissue and olive oil). Next, experiments were performed using a commercial OECP with a 2.2 mm aperture diameter. The SD was categorized based on 5%, 20% and 80% DP change. Among these threshold values, a 5% DP change was selected as the benchmark for SD categorization. The findings suggest that probes with a smaller aperture size and correspondingly smaller SD should be utilized when measuring the DPs of thin and multilayered samples, such as healthy and diseased skin tissues, to increase the measurement accuracy.

Anemia is a condition that affects over 1.6 billion people worldwide untreated, the disease could lead to increased morbidity and mortality during pregnancy, affecting both the mother and the unborn child. This paper presents the measured dielectric properties of whole blood samples from 176 patients obtained from a hematology clinic; with 80 samples from male patients and 96 samples from female patients. Measurements were performed using a Keysight slim form probe and Keysight network analyzer to obtain the dielectric properties over a wide frequency range (500 MHz-8.5 GHz). A multiple linear regression analysis is performed to identify which components of the blood show the highest correlation with changes in the dielectric properties. Hemoglobin (Hgb) is shown to be the biggest predictor of changes in complex permittivity, demonstrating that permittivity measurements at a single frequency can potentially be used to detect anemia. A support vector machines algorithm is trained and tested to classify between blood samples from healthy patients and blood samples from patients with anemia. The classifier is optimized using a Bayesian-optimization approach during 10-fold cross-validation and then the average performance of the final trained classifier is evaluated through 10-fold testing on unseen data sets. Using a clinical definition of anemia defined as patients having a concentration of Hgb

In order to design electromagnetic applicators for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, an adequate dielectric tissue model is required. In addition, tissue temperature will heavily influence the dielectric properties and the dielectric model should, thus, be extended to incorporate this temperature dependence. Thus, this work has a dual purpose. Given the influence of temperature, dehydration, and probe-to-tissue contact pressure on dielectric measurements, this work will initially present the first setup to actively control and monitor the temperature of the sample, the dehydration rate of the investigated sample, and the applied probe-to-tissue contact pressure. Secondly, this work measured the dielectric properties of porcine muscle in the 0.5–40 GHz frequency range for temperatures from 20 °C to 45 °C. Following measurements, a single-pole Cole–Cole model is presented, in which the five Cole–Cole parameters (ϵ∞, σs, Δϵ, τ, and α) are given by a first order polynomial as function of tissue temperature. The dielectric model closely agrees with the limited dielectric models known in literature for muscle tissue at 37 °C, which makes it suited for the design of in vivo applicators. Furthermore, the dielectric data at 41–45 °C is of great importance for the design of hyperthermia applicators.

Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can be serious for infants and older adults, though it is considered a common respiratory virus for most people. Rapid and sensitive detection of RSV is important for minimizing infection, and an effective diagnostic method is still in demand. Dielectric spectroscopy is a technique for measuring the complex permittivity spectra of a material‐under‐test (MUT). The spectra can provide a unique fingerprint of the MUT for higher detection accuracy. In this article, a dielectric spectroscopy technique, which uses an open‐ended coaxial probe submerged in aqueous biological materials, is presented for the detection of RSV. From the reflection coefficients at the end of an open‐ended coaxial probe, complex permittivity spectra over the frequency range of 0.1‐26.5 GHz are extracted and used to characterize the three different biological materials: RSV, RSV + an antibody targeting the RSV, and bovine serum albumin (BSA), which is used as a negative control sample in this article. It is shown that the RSV and RSV + antibody can be differentiated from BSA by three distinct features: (a) the real part of the complex permittivity spectra, (b) the ionic loss characteristic below 1 GHz, and (c) the relaxation frequency. These three features enable us to identify the presence of RSV in an aqueous biological material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric properties of biological tissues are traditionally measured with open-ended coaxial probes. Despite being commercially available for laboratory use, the technique suffers from high measurement error. This prevents the practical applications of the open-ended coaxial probes. One such application is the utilization of the technique for skin cancer detection. To enable a diagnostic tool, there is a need to address the error sources. Among others, tissue heterogeneity is a major contributor to measurement error. The effect of tissue heterogeneity on measurement accuracy can be decreased by quantifying the probe sensing depth. To this end, this work (1) investigates the sensing depth of the 2.2 mm-diameter open-ended coaxial probe for skin mimicking material and (2) offers a simple experimental setup and protocol for sensing depth characterization of open-ended coaxial probes. The sensing depth characterized through simulation and experiments using two double-layered configurations composed to mimic the skin tissue heterogeneity. Three thresholds in percent increase of dielectric property measurements were chosen to determine the sensing depth. Based on the experiment results, it was concluded that the sensing depth was effected by the dielectric property contrast between the layers. That is, high contrast results in rapid change whereas low contrast results in a slower change in measured dielectric properties. It was also concluded that the sensing depth was independent of frequency between 0.5 to 6 GHz and was mostly determined by the material located immediately at the aperture of the probe.

In the bioremediation field, geophysical techniques are commonly applied, at lab scale and field scale, to perform the characterization and the monitoring of contaminated soils. We propose a method for detecting the dielectric properties of contaminated soil during a process of bioremediation. An open-ended coaxial probe measured the complex dielectric permittivity (between 0.2 and 20 GHz) on a series of six soil microcosms contaminated by diesel oil (13.5% Voil/Vtot). The microcosms had different moisture content (13%, 19%, and 24% Vw/Vtot) and different salinity due to the addition of nutrients (22 and 15 g/L). The real and the imaginary component of the complex dielectric permittivity were evaluated at the initial stage of contamination and after 130 days. In almost all microcosms, the real component showed a significant decrease (up to 2 units) at all frequencies. The results revealed that the changes in the real part of the dielectric permittivity are related to the amount of degradation and loss in moisture content. The imaginary component, mainly linked to the electrical conductivity of the soil, shows a significant drop to almost 0 at low frequencies. This could be explained by a salt depletion during bioremediation. Despite a moderate accuracy reduction compared to measurements performed on liquid media, this technology can be successfully applied to granular materials such as soil. The open-ended coaxial probe is a promising instrument to check the dielectric properties of soil to characterize or monitor a bioremediation process.

Open-ended coaxial probe spectroscopy is commonly used to determine the dielectric permittivity of biological tissues. However, heterogeneities in the probe sensing region can limit measurement precision and reproducibility. This study presents an analysis of the coaxial probe sensing region to elucidate the effects of heterogeneities on measured permittivity. Coaxial probe spectroscopy at 0.5–20 GHz was numerically simulated while a homogenous background was perturbed with a small inclusion of contrasting permittivity. Shifts in the measured effective permittivity provided a three-dimensional assessment of the probe sensitivity field. Sensitivity was well-approximated by the square of the electric field for each analyzed probe. Smaller probes were more sensitive to heterogeneities throughout their sensing region, but were less sensitive to spectral effects compared to larger probes. The probe sensing diameter was less than 0.5 mm in all directions by multiple metrics. Therefore, small heterogeneities may substantially impact permittivity measurement in biological tissues if located near the probe-tissue interface.

We report on the development of a method for measuring the permittivity and conductivity of fluids inside a sealed tank (or a pipe) by using an embedded coaxial probe. Permittivity and conductivity in the frequency range 600 MHz to 6 GHz are determined from measurements of a complex reflection coefficient by using a vector network analyser (VNA) that is connected to the embedded probe via a coaxial cable. Substitution methods for calibration of an inaccessible probe are studied in this paper. These require the VNA with attached cable to be calibrated prior to connecting the cable to the embedded coaxial probe. Measurement of permittivity and conductivity of fluids inside sealed tanks and pipes is needed for monitoring industrial processes, such as fermentation. The authors’ requirement, however, was to allow monitoring of a tissue-equivalent liquid that is contained inside a sealed tank. This tank is a component of a commercial system for rapid, multiple-band measurement of the specific absorption rate (SAR) of mobile phone handsets. Monitoring of permittivity and conductivity is needed to ensure compliance with international standards for SAR measurement. The paper also presents data for a new broadband (600 MHz to 6 GHz) tissue-equivalent liquid that is based on an oil-in-water emulsion. It is demonstrated that over an extended period of time, the liquid is stable, and an embedded coaxial probe enables its properties to be monitored with the required accuracy.

Open-ended coaxial probes are widely used to gather dielectric properties of biological tissues. Due to the lack of an agreed data acquisition protocol, several environmental conditions can cause inaccuracies when comparing dielectric data. In this work, the effect of a different measurement probe-to-tissue contact pressure was monitored in the frequency range from 0.5 to 20 GHz. Therefore, we constructed a controlled lifting platform with an integrated pressure sensor to exert a constant pressure on the tissue sample during the dielectric measurement. In the pressure range from 7.74 kPa to 77.4 kPa, we observed a linear correlation of − 0.31 ± 0.09 % and − 0.32 ± 0.14 % per kPa for, respectively, the relative real and imaginary complex permittivity. These values are statistically significant compared with the reported measurement uncertainty. Following the literature in different biology-related disciplines regarding pressure-induced variability in measurements, we hypothesize that these changes originate from squeezing out the interstitial and extracellular fluid. This process locally increases the concentration of membranes, cellular organelles, and proteins in the sensed volume. Finally, we suggest moving towards a standardized probe-to-tissue contact pressure, since the literature has already demonstrated that reprobing at the same pressure can produce repeatable data within a 1% uncertainty interval.

The solid, geometrically tapered microwave absorbers are preferred due to their better performance. The goal of this study is to design absorbers that can reduce the electromagnetic reflections to less than -10 dB. Two waste materials of sugarcane bagasse and rubber tire dust in the powder form were used to fabricate independent samples in the pyramidal form. This paper presents the complex permittivity measurements of sugarcane bagasse and rubber tire dust materials. These two materials are found to be potential absorbing materials in microwave frequency to allow absorption of microwave EMI energy. The materials were combined and fabricated in the composite structure. A measurement system using open-ended coaxial probe method was used for characterizing the dielectric properties of the materials in the range of 1 to 18 GHz microwave frequencies. The dielectric property was used to compare the propagation constants of the material. Comparison of the results proved that these two materials have industrial potential to be fabricated as solid absorbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop a novel combination drying method combining radio frequency (RF) with vacuum and osmotic dehydration (OD), information on dielectric properties is essential so as to understand the interaction between the electromagnetic field and the matrix undergoing drying. In this paper, the dielectric properties of kiwifruit samples were determined across the frequency range of 10 and 3000 MHz using an open-ended coaxial-line probe and impedance analyzer at moisture contents ranging from 19.8% to 79.6% on a wet basis (w.b.) and temperatures between 20 and 80 °C. The effect of pre-treatments including OD and hot air drying (AD) on the dielectric properties, physicochemical properties and RF-vacuum drying characteristics of kiwifruit were also studied. The results showed that both the dielectric constant and loss factor decreased with decreasing moisture content and increasing frequency. At high moisture contents (above 65% w.b.), the dielectric constant decreased slightly with increasing temperature, whereas at lower moisture contents (below 50% w.b.), the dielectric constant increased sharply with increasing temperature. In addition, the OD resulted in less kiwifruit quality deterioration than AD in terms of titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, soluble solids and color. Although dielectric permittivities of OD treated kiwifruits were slightly lower than those of AD treated samples, the effect of the OD treatment on RF energy coupling was negligible compared to the AD. Therefore, OD may provide an alternative way for AD as a pre-treatment before RF drying for kiwifruits with high-quality characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to investigate the correlation between the dielectric properties of biological tissues and their different states of hydration. Measurements were conducted on rat muscle and fat tissues both in vivo and ex vivo, in different states of dehydration through a loss on drying technique. Dielectric parameters were observed as a function of frequency from 500 MHz to 50 GHz by utilizing an open-ended coaxial probe at constant room temperature of 25° C. By observing which dehydration fractions fall within in vivo values, it was deduced that ex vivo samples are reliable in representing the dielectric parameters of in vivo samples, under certain controlled hydration conditions whereas, further analysis should be conducted for tissue characterized by low water content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of the dielectric properties of biological tissues is fundamental in the design of novel electromagnetic-based medical devices. Tissue dielectric properties are typically measured using the open-ended coaxial probe technique, which is designed for homogeneous samples. Histological analysis may be conducted to associate the measured dielectric properties to different tissue types within heterogeneous samples. However, the histology radius (i.e., the radial extent of the tissue sample that undergoes histological analysis) has not been consistently defined in the literature; therefore, this parameter may be a source of error in dielectric data. For this reason, we investigate the histology radius of various heterogeneous samples. Dielectric measurements were conducted over the frequency range of 0.5 to 20 GHz on radially heterogeneous tissue-mimicking materials and biological tissues, with different dielectric properties and contrasts. The experimental results were validated with numerical simulations and indicate that: i) the histology radius does not exceed the probe radius; ii) the dielectric properties of radially heterogeneous tissues depend on the spatial distribution of each material within the histology radius; and iii) the bulk dielectric properties of concentric heterogeneous tissues highly depend on the properties of each constituent material within the histology radius. This study supports consistent identification of the histology radius and provides a basis for rigorous interpretation of the dielectric properties of heterogeneous tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on the non-destructive measurement of the dielectric constants (relative permittivities) of thin dielectric material (0.1 mm – 0.5 mm) using an open-ended coaxial probe with an outer diameter of 4.1 mm. Normalized de-embedding and network error calibration procedures were applied to the coaxial probe. The measured reflection coefficients for the thin samples were taken with a vector network analyzer up to 7 GHz, and the calibrated reflection coefficients were converted to relative dielectric constant using an empirical reflection-coefficient model. The empirical model was created using the regression method and expressed as a polynomial model, and the coefficients of model were obtained by fitting with the data using the Finite Element Method (FEM).

The knowledge of frequency and temperature dependent dielectric properties of tissue is essential to develop ultra-wideband diagnostic technologies, such as a non-invasive temperature monitoring system during hyperthermia treatment. To this end, we characterized the dielectric properties of animal liver, muscle, fat and blood in the microwave frequency range from 0.5 GHz to 7 GHz and in the temperature range between 30 °C and 50 °C. The measured data were modeled to a two-pole Cole-Cole model and a second-order polynomial was introduced to fit the Cole-Cole parameters as a function of temperature. The parametric model provides access to the dielectric properties of tissue at any frequency and temperature in the specified range.

This paper presents a method to simultaneously determine the thickness and permittivity of thin layers from multi-frequency reflection coefficient measurements using an open-ended coaxial probe. This is achieved by exploiting that the probe becomes radiating at frequencies higher than the probe’s typical operating range. Permittivity information is extracted from measurements in the typical frequency range, whereas thickness information is obtained from high frequency measurements by exploiting resonances that occur when the radiated waves are reflected at the layer boundary. A finite element model of the measurement set-up is made in COMSOL MultiphysicsTM, and a matrix of simulations spanning the relevant layer thicknesses and permittivity range is generated. The measured permittivity spectra of unknown samples are compared to the simulation matrix to estimate layer thickness and permittivity. The method is verified by measurements of water–ethanol mixtures. An application example where the water fraction and layer thickness of a gas hydrate deposition layer is estimated from permittivity measurements in a multiphase flow loop is also presented.

In the borehole radar detection, the dielectric permittivity testing is crucial to the accuracy of the detection depth. Usually, the dielectric permittivity is a dynamic parameter even in the same medium with different structures, or in the different physical environments. Therefore, testing methods for the dielectric permittivity measurement of the sample should be adjusted to fit the local conditions. However, it is usually difficult to measure the dielectric permittivity directly so far. In this paper, we present the design and fabrication of a fixed low-frequency electrical parameter testing system with open-ended coaxial probe technique to meet the desired requirement in borehole radar detection. Using this testing system, the dielectric permittivity of the rock core samples and non-rock samples was tested directly. The measured results and simulation results by CST are in good agreement, which demonstrated the accuracy of the measuring technique and the significance for microwave remote sensing in the dielectric permittivity measurements. So, our method could be extended to the application in borehole radar detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dielectric properties of tissues are the key parameters in electromagnetic medical technologies. Despite the apparent simplicity of the dielectric measurement process, reported data have been inconsistent for heterogeneous tissues. Dielectric properties may be attributed to heterogeneous tissues by identifying the tissue types that contributed to the measurement through histological analysis. However, accurate interpretation of the measurements with histological analysis requires first defining an appropriate histology region to examine. Here, we investigate multiple definitions for the probe sensing depth and uniquely calculate this parameter for measurements with a realistic range of tissues. We demonstrate that different sensing depth definitions are not equivalent, and may introduce error in dielectric data. Last, we propose an improved definition, given by the depth to which the probe can detect changes in the tissue sample, within the measurement uncertainty. We equate this sensing depth with histology depth, thus supporting the need of having the tissue region that contributes to the dielectric data be the same as that which is analyzed histologically. This paper demonstrates that, for these tissues, the histology depth is both frequency and tissue dependent. Therefore, the histology depth should be selected based on the measurement scenario; otherwise, inaccuracies in the data may result. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]