Remote ice detection has emerged as an application of Radio Frequency (RF) sensors. While antenna-based “RFID” sensing can detect various measurands, antenna-based sensors are not currently designed based on a systematic methodology, and in most cases may have a low sensitivity requiring specialist hardware or broadband interrogation signals, incompatible with spectrum regulations. Here, we develop a systematic methodology for designing an antenna-based sensor, applicable to measurands inducing a dielectric change in the near-field of the antenna. The proposed methodology is applied to designing printable antennas as highly-sensitive sensors for detecting and measuring the thickness of ice, demonstrating best-in-class sensory response compared to more complex antenna designs. Antenna design is investigated systematically for wireless interrogation in the 2.4 GHz band, where it is found that a loop antenna outperforms a dipole owing to its more distributed capacitance. The antenna’s realized gain was identified as the optimum parameter-under-test, with “positive” sensing proposed as a method of improving linearity and immunity to interference. The developed loop antenna sensor exhibits resilience to interference and applicability to different real-world deployment environments, demonstrated through over 80% average ice thickness measurement accuracy and at least 5 dB real-time sensitivity to ice deposition.

中文翻译：

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迈向基于最佳天线的无线传感策略：冰传感案例研究

远程冰检测已成为射频 (RF) 传感器的一种应用。虽然基于天线的“RFID”传感可以检测各种被测量，但基于天线的传感器目前不是基于系统方法设计的，并且在大多数情况下可能具有低灵敏度，需要专业硬件或宽带询问信号，与频谱法规不兼容。在这里，我们开发了一种用于设计基于天线的传感器的系统方法，适用于在天线近场中引起介电变化的被测量。所提出的方法应用于将可打印天线设计为用于检测和测量冰厚度的高灵敏度传感器，与更复杂的天线设计相比，展示了一流的感官响应。针对 2.4 GHz 频段的无线询问系统地研究了天线设计，发现环形天线的性能优于偶极天线，因为其分布电容更大。天线的实际增益被确定为最佳被测参数，提出了“正”传感作为提高线性度和抗干扰能力的方法。所开发的环形天线传感器具有抗干扰能力，并适用于不同的实际部署环境，通过超过 80% 的平均冰厚度测量精度和至少 5 dB 的冰沉积实时灵敏度来证明。提出了“正”传感作为提高线性度和抗干扰性的方法。所开发的环形天线传感器具有抗干扰能力，并适用于不同的实际部署环境，通过超过 80% 的平均冰厚度测量精度和至少 5 dB 的冰沉积实时灵敏度来证明。提出了“正”传感作为提高线性度和抗干扰性的方法。所开发的环形天线传感器具有抗干扰能力，并适用于不同的实际部署环境，通过超过 80% 的平均冰厚度测量精度和至少 5 dB 的冰沉积实时灵敏度来证明。