A Microwave Sensor System for the Unattended Control of Corrosion in Urban Metallic Infrastructures
Vélez Rasero, Paris (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Paredes, Ferran (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Casacuberta Orta, Pau (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Canalias, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Su, Lijuan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Martín, Ferran (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)

Date:	2025
Abstract:	This article presents a microwave sensor system (including the electromagnetic module and the associated electronics for signal generation and processing) useful for unattendedly monitoring the corrosion level in urban metallic infrastructures, particularly, streetlights and traffic lights. The electromagnetic module consists of a microstrip line loaded with a slot resonator, the sensitive element, transversely etched in the ground plane. To make the electromagnetic module conformal, a necessity for the intended application, the slot-loaded line has been implemented in a narrow (and hence flexible) low-loss microwave substrate. To adapt it to the circular shape of the metallic infrastructure, streetlights with different curvature shapes in the reported example cases, a conformal 3-D-printed piece of polylactic acid (PLA) has been fabricated. By sandwiching the electromagnetic module between such PLA piece and the surface of the streetlight subjected to corrosion control, perfect contact of it with the sensing element is achieved. The output variable of the sensor is the magnitude of the transmission coefficient of the slot-loaded line at a specific frequency (correlated with the level of corrosion of the surface) converted to a voltage by means of an envelope detector. The functionality of the proposed sensor is validated by means of a complete system, including the associated electronics.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2022-139181OB-I00 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2021/SGR-00192 Agencia Estatal de Investigación RYC2022-035819-I Agencia Estatal de Investigación FPU20/05700 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PREP2022-000364
Rights:	Aquest material està protegit per drets d'autor i/o drets afins. Podeu utilitzar aquest material en funció del que permet la legislació de drets d'autor i drets afins d'aplicació al vostre cas. Per a d'altres usos heu d'obtenir permís del(s) titular(s) de drets.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Corrosion ; Microstrip technology ; Microwave sensor ; Slot resonator ; Structural health monitoring (SHM)
Published in:	IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol. 25, Issue 11 (June 2025) , p. 20455-20465, ISSN 1530-437X

DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2025.3564003

Postprint 12 p, 932.2 KB

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