Abstract: This paper presents a compact and low cost rectangular patch antenna that was used as a sensor for real time agriculture measurements, industry. The microstrip patch antenna is designed to operate at microwave frequency 2.45GHz on FR4 substrate with 1.57mm thickness. The radiation loss due to water molecules in the soil sample will be proportional to the moisture content in it. Many types of moisture measurement methods are used such as oven drying method, neutron probe method etc. These methods are very cheap and easy to use but there are some drawbacks they are more time consuming as well as energy consuming . To resolve these problems microstrip patch antenna is used to determine the moisture content of soil. In this method microwaves are incident on soil sample on one side and received signal is measured at other side. if the moisture content in the soil is more then signal will be attenuated As we increased water, the received voltage will be decreases. This shows that the electromagnetic radiation gets affected by the water molecules and hence this principle can be used for many applications. One of them is measuring moisture content in soil.
Keywords: Soil Moisture Content, Patch Antenna, Printed Circuit Board, voltage controlled oscillator Microcontroller, Display.
Title: Determination of Moisture Content of Soil Using Microwaves
Author: Yogita T.Patil, Dr. Uttam L. Bombale
International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research
ISSN 2348-6988 (online)
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