Small and robust antennas for concrete embedded sensors

We study a small antenna for a structural health monitoring sensor. The sensor is cast into concrete. The sensor monitors the humidity and temperature of the concrete, which is a harsh environment. From measured material parameters of the concrete we estimate the signal loss and the antenna detuning. We find that the antenna is considerably detuned due to the high dielectric constant of concrete. The attenuation of the transmitted signal is due to dielectric losses in the concrete.