Material Characterization of Various Soil Types using the Transmission Reflection Method in a Free-Space Setup

The quantification of the complex relative permittivities of various soil types is an important aspect for many applications in the biological and geotechnical field. Knowledge of the material parameters of a soil type can be used, for example, to optimize imaging processes in the field of plant research. In this paper, the complex relative permittivities of different soil types were determined in the W-band. The design and calibration of the measurement system presented here ensure high-precision measurement accuracy and stability. The full scalability and tilt stability of the measurement setup enable the use of higher frequency bands. Additionally, the determined complex relative permittivities of the different soil types are validated by reference measurements of known materials.