Design and Validation of a Low-Cost Antenna-Based Solution for Microwave Imaging of RCC Structure

This paper proposes an innovative, low-cost antenna-based solution for microwave imaging of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) structures. An RCC beam is kept between the vertically polarized antenna pair at a distance of 13 cm apart (which acts as an attenuator), enclosed by a 3D-printed frame developed at our laboratory. Furthermore, the attenuation variation analysis with respect to height has been performed for microwave imaging of an RCC beam. The resultant attenuation variations with respect to height are 23.57 dB, 26 dB, 29.5 dB, and 32.80 dB for heights of 4 cm, 10 cm, 16 cm, and 20.5 cm, respectively. Additionally, the attenuation variation due to spatial (i.e., horizontal distance and height) variation at a range of frequencies (i.e., 1.2 GHz to 3.4 GHz) is investigated, and it is found that the antenna pair works well at 2.4 GHz frequency and 13 cm distance. Thus, we have utilized 2.4 GHz as a suitable frequency for microwave imaging of the RCC beam.