LAUSR

The structure of a high-resolution microwave material sensor is presented based on the injection locking phenomenon. For a sample under test, the variation of center frequency and lock range of the oscillator with respect to a reference sample are measured to indicate the resonance frequency and quality factor of the resonator. A low power level and low phase noise injection locking can significantly reduce the lock range of the oscillator. Therefore, even small variations in the loop filter of the oscillator change the response and can be determined with a high sensitivity. The unknown sample is characterized based on the measured center frequency and quality factor of the resonator. An output power control (OPC) system increases the dynamic range of the sensor with respect to the dielectric constant of samples. Moreover, a method of material detection in the microwave frequency is proposed based on data from the OPC to eliminate the frequency analyzer from the system for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. As an example for validation, a 1-GHz sensor is fabricated and the measurement results are presented.