Design of flexible platform for various free-space, broadband dielectric analysis measurement techniques

Non destructive testing (NDT) is an important analysis technique to understand material composition. Dielectric analysis is an NDT technique, using a probing electromagnetic wave, which is reflected and/or propagated from/through the material under test (MUT). There have been many advances in this area, with several frequency domain techniques based on measurement of amplitude and phase, amplitude alone or phase alone. This paper describes the design of a new dielectric analysis test platform, which includes controllable variable widths of MUT, antenna translation and even accurate angular positioning. This test platform will allow comparison of several of the recognised techniques whose various aims include to lower cost, to remove diffraction and multiple reflection effects. In our case, the target dielectrics are in powder or liquid form. The proposed test platform is a physical extension of an existing test platform, developed to qualify propagation reduction for microwave signals passing through energy efficient glass, coated with transparent conductors.