Material characterization using a hand-held network analyzer

Abstract

In this paper a method employing a hand-held network analyzer is presented that allows in situ measurement of materials in environments unreachable by traditional network analyzers. Calculation of permittivity and permeability is accomplished using two reflection measurements from a waveguide probe. A comparison between the theoretical and experimentally measured reflection coefficients allows extraction of the material parameters using a root search algorithm. Parameter extraction results are presented and compared to those obtained from an HP8510 network analyzer employing the same waveguide probe and test materials.