IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 15, NO.

10, OCTOBER 2015 5545

Wireless Sensing in Complex Electromagnetic

Media: Construction Materials and
Structural Monitoring
Burak Ozbey, Student Member, IEEE, Hilmi Volkan Demir, Senior Member, IEEE, Ozgur Kurc,
Vakur B. Ertürk, Member, IEEE, and Ayhan Altintas, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— In this paper, wireless sensing in the presence reinforcing bar (rebar), complex medium, structural health
of complex electromagnetic media created by combinations of monitoring (SHM).
reinforcing bars and concrete is investigated. The wireless
displacement sensing system, primarily designed for use in struc- I. I NTRODUCTION
tural health monitoring (SHM), is composed of a comb-like nested
split-ring resonator (NSRR) probe and a transceiver antenna.
Although each complex medium scenario is predicted to have a
detrimental effect on sensing in principle, it is demonstrated that
E NABLING telemetric measurements, wireless passive
sensors are increasingly desired in numerous applications
including measurements of stress [1], [2], strain [3]–[5],
the proposed sensor geometry is able to operate fairly well in all displacement [5], [6], temperature [7], [8], humidity [9], [10]
scenarios except one. In these scenarios that mimic real-life SHM,
it is shown that this sensor exhibits a high displacement resolution and pH [8], [11], [12], and detection of chemical
of 1 µm, a good sensitivity of 7 MHz/mm in average, and a high compounds [13], [14]. Especially, in the area of structural
dynamic range extending over 20 mm. For the most disruptive health monitoring (SHM), it can be a very cumbersome task
scenario of placing concrete immediately behind NSRR, a solu- to use different cables for each strain gage at data acquisition
tion based on employing a separator behind the probe is proposed systems employed to monitor buildings or other structures.
to overcome the handicaps introduced by the medium. In order
to obtain a one-to-one mapping from the measured frequency Additionally, tearing down part of a wall or a construction
shift to the displacement, a numerical fit is proposed and used. to reach the sensing structure for battery replacement is both
The effects of several complex medium scenarios on this fit are difficult and costly. Hence, the sensor preferably needs to be
discussed. These results indicate that the proposed sensing scheme wireless and passive in order to be conveniently embedded
works well in real-life SHM applications. inside walls and cast into concrete [15].
Index Terms— Wireless passive sensor, displacement sensor, In SHM, the peak strain rising from displacement is one
strain sensor, nested split ring resonator (NSRR), concrete, of the prime damage indicators [16]. Hence, keeping track
Manuscript received January 13, 2015; revised May 20, 2015; accepted of strain forming on such structures provides valuable infor-
May 22, 2015. Date of publication June 4, 2015; date of current version mation about the level of overall deformation and possibly
August 12, 2015. This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological whether the evacuation of a building will or will not be
Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) through Elektrik Elektronik ve
Enformatik Araştırma Grubu (EEEAG) under Grant no: 112E255. The work necessary. Recently, wireless passive strain and displacement
of H. V. Demir was supported in part by the European Science Foundation sensors have been shown, some of which were specifically
through the European Young Investigator Awards, and in part by the Turkish designed for remote SHM [17]–[25]. In [17], the authors
National Academy of Sciences. The associate editor coordinating the review
of this paper and approving it for publication was Dr. Stefan J. Rupitsch. benefited from a patch antenna as a sensing structure, and
B. Ozbey is with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, by using another antenna as an interrogator, they wirelessly
Bilkent University, Ankara 06800, Turkey (e-mail: [email protected]). performed strain sensing and crack detection. The underlying
H. V. Demir is with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engi-
neering and the Department of Physics, Institute of Materials Science and principle is that the antenna, subject to a change with a crack
Nanotechnology, Bilkent University, Ankara 06800, Turkey, and also with the or strain forming on it, changes its resonant frequency due
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the School of Physical to its dimensions comparable to the crack or strain induced
and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
639798 (e-mail: [email protected]). deformation. In [18] and [24], an RFID reader and a tag were
O. Kurc is with the Department of Civil Engineering, Middle East Technical used for interrogation. In [18], the tag was in the form of a
University, Ankara 06800, Turkey (e-mail: [email protected]). meander-line antenna; and in [24], a two-part structure with
V. B. Ertürk is with the Department of Electrical and Electron-
ics Engineering, Bilkent University, Ankara 06800, Turkey (e-mail: an open-circuit microstrip loaded by sensing notches and a
[email protected]). selector that can move with the applied force was used as the
A. Altintas is with the Communications and Spectrum Management tag. In both reports, the resolution was experimentally shown
Research Center, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Bilkent University, Ankara 06800, Turkey, and also with the Faculty of to be around sub-mm level, while for the latter one it was
Engineering and Natural Sciences, Abdullah Gul University, Kayseri 38039, found that resolution levels as low as a few tens of μm’s were
Turkey (e-mail: [email protected]). theoretically possible with certain RFID readers. In [19], a
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. circular microstrip patch antenna was employed as the sensing
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2015.2441555 structure, but a maximum interrogation distance of 5 cm was
1530-437X © 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
5546 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 15, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2015

proof-of concept under laboratory conditions, i.e., working on

a translation stage when the backside of the probe was loaded
with free space [33]. The resolution of the sensor was shown
to be sub-μm, with a tracked displacement range up to 20 mm,
possessing a sensitivity level of 10 MHz/mm for a 2 mm
range. In [34], the sensing probe was attached on a standard
construction reinforcing bar, employed in critical regions of a
building such as columns and beams. The rebar was pulled in
a high-scale loading setup, where a force up to 36,7 kN was
applied. It was shown that the sensor could accurately detect
the entirety of the elastic and plastic deformation regions of
the rebar, with both a high dynamic range (up to 10% strain
Fig. 1. Schematics of the sensor geometry used in this work. and 2 mm displacement) and a microstrain-level resolution
in the elastic range. The experiments were also successfully
repeated in the presence of a thin concrete cover between the
experimentally shown. In [20], the authors demonstrated a antenna and the sensing probe.
wireless strain transducer based on a microstrip patch antenna In this paper, different from the works of our groups and
that is loaded with two open loops to sense the strain in two others, the proposed sensor geometry is systematically studied
directions. The sensitivity of the proposed structure, which is and tested in a fully real-life compatible environment, where
defined as the measured frequency shift per unit strain induced, the sensing NSRR probe is loaded with several construction
was shown to be 2.35% change in frequency for 1.00% strain. elements including a rebar grid, concrete and combinations
In real-life applications, however, the complex medium of these elements, which constitute an electromagnetically
constituted by combinations of concrete and rebar grid gen- complex medium. The effects of rebar and concrete on the
erally has a detrimental effect on RF wireless sensors that sensing are understood first separately and then together. For
interrogate backscattered fields. In order for a sensor to qualify such a sensing system, the method used to extract the dis-
for use in a real-life application, first the question of whether placement or strain information from the monitored frequency
it can function well in the presence of such a medium shift is also essential since this serves as a calibration for
should be addressed. Among the wireless passive strain and other measurements. Here, a numerical fit is introduced for this
displacement sensors previously reported, this effect has not calibration, and the modification of the fit parameters due to
been systematically considered. Although the electromagnetic the effects of the complex medium are shown experimentally.
properties (relative dielectric constant, loss factor, loss tangent, The organization of the paper is as follows: In Section II, the
conductivity, etc.) as well as the transmission and reflection sensor configuration is described and the working principles
properties of rebar grid, concrete and reinforced concrete in are briefly discussed. In Section III, the translation frequency
RF and microwave frequencies have been studied extensively shift characterization of the sensor in free space is given and a
in literature [26]–[32], wireless sensing in their medium has numerical fit to these measurements is provided. In Section IV,
not been demonstrated. It was shown by Dalke et al. that experiment results in the presence of rebar and concrete are
transmission through or reflection from a rebar grid is closely shown and their effects on the fit parameters are discussed.
related with the unit cell length or period of the grid [28]. Additionally, a solution to the problems created by the com-
It was also demonstrated that above a certain free space plex media is suggested. Section V concludes the paper.
wavelength approximately equal to this period, a metal rebar
grid completely reflects the incident wave, acting as a per- II. S ENSOR G EOMETRY
fect electric conductor [28]. Dalke et al. also derived that The proposed sensing system consists of two parts:
a conducting concrete block produces periodic transmission A sensing probe designed in comb-like NSRR geometry and
maxima when the guided wavelength inside the concrete (λc ) a transceiver antenna, which serves as the interrogator. The
is equal to 2W , W , W /2, W /4, ..., where W is the thickness of comb-like NSRR geometry, first proposed in [35], is selected
the concrete. In the case of periodically reinforced concrete, primarily because of its higher localization of fields and
these two elements are combined and their characteristics are its ease of design. Detailed information about the specific
superimposed. The resulting behavior is a more complicated comb-like NSRR design used in the sensor can be found
function of both W and the rebar grid period [28]. in [33] and [34]. The structure and the dimensions of the split
Recently, a novel wireless and passive displacement and comb-like NSRR geometry employed in this paper as well as
strain sensor configuration for SHM has been proposed by our in [33] and [34] are shown in Fig. 2. This geometry consists of
group [33], [34]. This sensor basically works by the principle a comb-like NSRR split symmetrically into two halves, which
of creating a coupled system between an NSRR probe and are electrically shorted by a thin jumper wire on the normally
an antenna. The sensing probe structure is attached to the continuous uppermost tooth pair. Splitting the NSRR into two
object on which the axial displacement between two points halves saves the system from strain propagation on NSRR,
are to be measured (see Fig. 1). The antenna serves both which is fabricated from a dielectric material (e.g., Rogers
as a receiver and a transmitter, sending the signal driven by Duroid) and allows for larger displacements to be monitored.
the network analyzer. Previously, the sensor was shown as a Strain information can also be retrieved from the measured
OZBEY et al.: WIRELESS SENSING IN COMPLEX ELECTROMAGNETIC MEDIA 5547

Fig. 3. The experiment setup of the sensing system, showing the

NSRR probe on the translation stage and the microstrip slot antenna.

Fig. 2. Structure and dimensions of the split comb-like NSRR design used
in this paper, shown attached on a rebar. to a specific displacement. The near-field interaction between
the antenna and the sensor results in an increased sensitivity
(up to 10 MHz/mm) and a higher resolution (sub-μm),
displacement since the relationship between displacement and as shown in [33]. The system sensitivity and resolution
strain is given by: naturally decrease as the monitoring distance (Dm ), which
is the distance between the antenna and the NSRR probe, is
D
e= (1) increased. At a high Dm , increasing the input power is
D observed to be ineffective in recovering the sensitivity
where e is the engineering strain, D is the distance between or resolution levels attained at low Dm ’s. The maximum
the two attachment points of the NSRR probe and D is monitoring distance (Dm,max ) is therefore around 60 cm in
the change in D, which can be positive (in the case of an the experiments, which is below λ0 (75 cm at 400 MHz
elongation) or negative (in the case of a contraction). The operating frequency) to ensure that the NSRR probe is in the
operation frequency is selected as 400 MHz. The relative near-field of the antenna.
permittivity of concrete is around 6, and at this frequency
the guided wavelength (λc ) is around 30 cm. This λc is found III. M EASUREMENTS IN F REE S PACE
to be appropriate for RF communication since the concrete There are two independent and controllable variables that
cover to be placed between the antenna and NSRR probe has determine the resonance frequency of the modified comb-like
a high transmission coefficient [28]. Moreover, the concrete NSRR structure: 1) The end-to-end separation between the
reinforced with the rebar grid on which the probe is attached two electrically connected NSRR parts (d), and 2) the length
has a higher reflection coefficient at 400 MHz [28]. Another of the jumper used to short the uppermost tooth (l) (see Fig. 2).
advantage of the comb-like NSRR geometry is that the dimen- C0 and L 0 are the effective capacitance and effective induc-
sions of the structure (4.7 cm × 4.7 cm footprint) are much tance of the unmodified comb-like NSRR (which is not divided
smaller with respect to the free space wavelength (75 cm). into two moving parts with a jumper wire connecting them but
The antenna is based on the bandwidth-enhanced and instead is rigid and has a continuous metal line absent of the
size-reduced microstip monopole single-slot antenna design jumper). d and l determine the capacitance and inductance,
shown in [36]. The dimensions of the antenna are selected such respectively, which in turn set a new f 0 for the whole structure,
that the antenna operates around 420 MHz center frequency. where f 0 is the effective resonance frequency of comb-like
The antenna is horizontally polarized, producing an E-field NSRR without a jumper, i.e., when l = 0 and d = 0.
along the parallel teeth of the NSRR probe structure, which As expected, an increase in d decreases the capacitance and
in turn increases the coupling. The antenna and the sensor are thus increases the resonance frequency. Also, an increase in
shown on the translation stage in Fig. 3. l increases the inductance and decreases the resonance fre-
In the proposed sensing system, the coupling between quency. The measured change of frequency with displacement
the NSRR probe and the antenna is achieved by placing for a range of 0-10 mm (except a 5 mm range for the sensor
the probe within the near-field of the antenna, and the whose l is 1 cm), which is obtained on the translation stage
displacement causes a local frequency peak or dip in the with no concrete or rebar included in the scenario, is shown
input impedance of this coupled system to shift. Because there for different jumper lengths in Fig. 4.
is a one-to-one relationship between the displacement and It can be observed in Fig. 4 that increasing the jumper
the coupled system frequency, every frequency corresponds length is effective in decreasing the resonance frequency for
5548 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 15, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2015

Fig. 4. Measured sensor resonance frequency as a function of displace-

ment (d), shown for different jumper lengths (l). Measurement performed on Fig. 6. Measured and fitted change of sensor resonance frequency for
a translation stage, where no rebar or concrete is present around the sensor varying d, parametrized with respect to l. The numerical fit is exponential,
elements. which is plotted for each l. Measurement performed on a translation stage,
where no rebar or concrete is present around the sensor elements.

In 2, the parameters k1 and B are constants, and remain the

same for each l value and for the whole d range. k2 , however,
is the offset frequency value which is experimentally shown
to be linearly related to l and to f 0 as:
k2 = f 0 − ml (3)
where m is the slope of the k2 versus l linear relation shown
in 3. Note that, it is thus experimentally revealed that the
relationship between f and l is also linear. For the translation
stage measurements in free space, the values that yield the
most convenient fit are found as k1 = 22.5 MHz/mm,
B = 0.3 mm−1 , and m = 14 MHz/cm, for a measured f0
of 437 MHz. The fits with these values are plotted for each l
in Fig. 6.
Fig. 5. Measured change of sensor resonance frequency with displace-
ment (d) for different jumper lengths (l), where f (d = 0) is subtracted from It has been experimentally demonstrated by Fig. 5 that the
each curve. Measurement performed on a translation stage, where no rebar or capacitance is independent of l and only depends on d. It is
concrete is present around the sensor elements. also clear that the inductance is independent of d and only
depends on l. Therefore, d and l are two independent design
any d value more or less by the same ratio. This becomes clear parameters that set the resonance frequency by changing the
when all curves are plotted on top of each other by subtracting overall C and L, respectively. On the other hand, the presence
from each curve their corresponding f (d = 0) values as shown of a complex electromagnetic medium is also effective in
in Fig. 5. This figure also shows that the change of frequency changing the overall C, which results in an altered resonance
with d does not depend on l, meaning that the capacitance is frequency. In the next section, measured impacts of several
independent of l and is only altered by d. combinations of the rebar grid and concrete block on the
As mentioned before, the calibration method is essential sensor are shown, and their effects on the fit parameters are
to extracting the displacement and strain information from discussed.
the measured frequency shift. Although the relationship
between the frequency and d was shown to be highly linear IV. M EASUREMENTS IN C OMPLEX M EDIA
(R 2 > 0.99 over 5 mm) for specific regions in the displace-
In the previous section, the measurement medium was free
ment range in [33]; for the entire range that can be detected
space and no element that could disrupt the sensor perfor-
by the sensor, it resembles a (1 − e−x ) type of curve as can be
mance like a rebar grid or a concrete wall was present in
observed in Fig. 4. This is valid for any of the scenarios shown
the vicinity of neither the antenna nor the NSRR probe. In a
in [33] and [34]. For the purpose of calibration, a numerical
real-life scenario, such a sensing structure should either be
fit can thus be applied to these curves as follows:
embedded in concrete or attached to the rebar just at the edge
k1 of the concrete wall. The NSRR probe is designed for use in
f f it = (1 − e−Bd ) + k2 (2)
B the latter case, where its backside, which does not contain a
OZBEY et al.: WIRELESS SENSING IN COMPLEX ELECTROMAGNETIC MEDIA 5549

ground plane or metal strips, is fastened to the rebar. Since

the rebar is just at the edge of the concrete, its backside also
makes contact with concrete, as shown in Fig. 1. In addition,
as a typical real-life application, there exists a relatively thin
concrete cover between the antenna and the NSRR probe. This
in turn leaves the NSRR probe completely confined within
concrete. The cover and the reinforced concrete constitute a
complex electromagnetic medium, and this medium affects the
characteristics of the sensor, including the shifting regime of
frequency with displacement. In this section, results of various
experiments are presented for several scenarios that involve
combinations of these elements.
For the given geometry and the dimensions used, the
operation frequency of the sensor is 400 MHz when the
NSRR probe is loaded in free space. Considering that
the maximum standard rebar grid period is around 10 cm,
it can be concluded that the rebar grid behaves as a perfect
electric conductor at that wavelength. On the other hand, the
size of the NSRR probe (4.7 cm × 4.7 cm) is relatively
small compared to the standard rebar grid period, and the
NSRR probe only sees the effect of the part of the grid
on which it is attached. Since the displacement or strain
along one direction is measured, the NSRR probe is placed
on the rebar such that the rebar is parallel to the tooth
Fig. 7. A fragment of the rebar grid placed behind the NSRR probe in
pairs. Therefore, the effect of the rebar grid on the sensor (a) vertical and (b) horizontal positions. The backside images are given in
is the same as that of a single rebar electromagnetically. (c) and (d).
The cylindrical rebar introduces an additional capacitance
in parallel to the effective NSRR capacitance, and thus the TABLE I
resonance frequency is decreased. As expected, this decrease M ODIFICATION OF F IT PARAMETERS W HEN A R EBAR G RID I S P LACED
is related to the diameter of the rebar; a larger diameter implies B EHIND THE NSRR P ROBE IN V ERTICAL AND H ORIZONTAL P OSITIONS
more additional capacitance and a further reduced frequency.
In [34], it was shown that the sensor is able to measure
displacement and strain successfully when attached on a rebar,
which is pulled by a high-scale loading setup. However, in that
case, the 8 mm diameter steel rebar touching the backside of
the NSRR probe also results in a frequency drop of about
100 MHz. But as demonstrated in [34], this decrease does of displacement. As pointed out, the electromagnetic effects
not hinder the operation of the sensor; only the numerical fit of these two positions are naturally different. The horizontal
parameters used for the calibration should be changed. placement is expected to introduce more additional capacitance
In the first set of experiments in complex media, a rebar to the structure due to larger metal presence at the back of the
grid is placed behind the NSRR probe at a 1 cm distance. NSRR, thus leading to a lower resonance frequency compared
The antenna monitors the NSRR from its front side as in to both the no-rebar case and the vertical placement case. The
the previous measurements. Behind the NSRR probe, a 2-D frequency shift versus displacement is shown for the no-rebar
fragment of the 3-dimensional rebar grid is placed (see Fig. 7), case as well as for the vertical and horizontal placements of
as normally would appear in a real-life scenario, only without the rebar grid in Fig. 8. The jumper length is 2 cm for the
concrete. This fragment of the rebar grid consists of three measurements. The exponential fit explained in Section III
parallel 16 mm diameter rebars separated by a gap of 9 cm and is also applied to each case in Fig. 8. In each fit, different
four perpendicularly placed 10 mm diameter rebars separated values for k1 and k2 are used, while other parameters remain
by a gap of 10 cm. The fragment of the rebar grid can be unchanged. The set of the fit parameters used in each case are
placed either in a position such that the thicker rebars are in shown in Table I.
vertical (Fig. 7-a and Fig. 7-c) or in horizontal position Fig. 8 shows that the placement of a rebar grid 1 cm
(Fig. 7-b and Fig. 7-d). The former and latter positions are away decreases the resonance frequency approximately by
denoted as vertical and horizontal placements, respectively. 10 and 20 MHz in the vertical and horizontal positions,
The difference between these two positions is that in the respectively. As mentioned before, the worst case occurs when
vertical position, the 10 mm diameter rebars lie along the the sensor is attached on the rebar in a touching position,
direction of the comb-like NSRR tooth pairs, i.e., along leading to a decrease up to 100 MHz for a 8 mm diameter
the direction of displacement; while in the horizontal position, rebar [34]. However, even in that case, the sensor operation is
the 16 mm diameter rebars lie along the direction not hindered and frequency shift can be detected.
5550 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 15, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2015

Fig. 8. Translational measurement of the change of sensor resonance Fig. 10. Measured change of the sensor frequency with varying displacement
frequency with d in the no-rebar case and for the cases of vertical and for different placements of the 4 cm thick concrete plate between the antenna
horizontal placement of the rebar grid fragment behind the NSRR probe, and the NSRR probe.
shown along with the exponential fits for each case. l = 2 cm in all cases.

Fig. 11. Measured resolution of the sensor in the presence of a 4-cm-thick

concrete plate: Sensor frequency versus d for a 30 μm range with 1 μm steps,
Fig. 9. Experimental setup of the scenario in which a 4 cm thick concrete where l = 4 cm.
plate is present between the antenna and the NSRR probe.

of the concrete as a cover placed between the sensor elements

An experiment in which a relatively thin concrete plate is is not very significant, creating a frequency decrease of at
placed between the NSRR probe and the antenna to represent most 15 MHz at any d value. This also demonstrates that the
the concrete cover, is the next step to understand the sensor’s concrete block can be considered as a homogeneous medium
performance towards real-life scenarios. For this purpose, for our measurements, and the detection of frequency change
a 4 cm thick concrete plate with surface dimensions of behind the cover does not depend on the antenna position.
70 cm × 35 cm is used (see Fig. 9). Since it is known The resolution of the sensor was shown to be at the
that concrete is not a perfectly homogeneous material, sub-μm level for measurements in free space, in [33]. The
the translation stage experiment is repeated for several dif- effect of the presence of a concrete cover between the antenna
ferent positions of the plate to check the effect of each case and the NSRR probe on the resolution is investigated as
on the sensor operation. These positions include translation the next characterization. The experiment is performed by
in the horizontal position to left and right with respect to using a Newport DM-13 micrometer, which allows for a
a predetermined origin (center), elevation in the upwards 0.5 μm minimum graduation level. The step size is selected
direction, and 180° reverting of the concrete plate around its as 1 μm for a d range of 30 μm. l is 4 cm for the
axis. Each scenario is expected to create minor changes on the NSRR probe in the experiment. The frequency change with
variation of the sensor frequency with displacement. These d is shown in Fig. 11. It is observed that the concrete
changes are presented in Fig. 10, where l = 4 cm for all cover slightly decreases the resolution, from sub-μm to 1 μm
measurements. This set of experiments shows that the effect level. Despite that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge,
OZBEY et al.: WIRELESS SENSING IN COMPLEX ELECTROMAGNETIC MEDIA 5551

Fig. 13. Measured change of sensor frequency when the concrete block
Fig. 12. Experimental setup for the measurement of frequency change versus is behind the NSRR probe, shown for several concrete block distances. The
displacement when a concrete block is present behind the NSRR probe. exponential fits are also shown.

TABLE II
this level of resolution in the complex medium is still better
M ODIFICATION OF F IT PARAMETERS W HEN A C ONCRETE B LOCK I S
than those of the previously shown passive wireless sensors
P LACED B EHIND THE NSRR P ROBE AT S EVERAL D ISTANCES
for SHM in literature, some of which were reported in free
space [5], [18], [37]. The concrete plate experiments related
with the drop of the resonance frequency and the resolution
hold significance because the front cover is the only element
whose effect on the sensor cannot be avoided. The problems
introduced by complex medium elements like rebar and
concrete core that stay behind the NSRR probe are easier
to deal with; on the other hand, the cover always stands
between the antenna and the sensing probe and its effect is
inevitable. Since the performance of the sensor is not affected
significantly by the concrete cover, the proposed scheme is
highly favorable for structural health monitoring. The dynamic
range is also shown to be large, which is basically limited by l,
and can extend up to over 20 mm as shown in [33]. Sensitivity
also remains slightly affected and is still excellent, with an
average of around 7.5 MHz/mm in the worst case over the
whole measured range.
The placement of a rebar grid behind the NSRR probe,
or that of a concrete plate between the antenna and the
sensor is shown here to affect the sensor performance
at a minimal level. However, placing a concrete block
behind the NSRR probe can be expected to change the
sensor characteristics due to the lossy nature of concrete.
To understand these effects, a concrete block with the
dimensions 20 cm × 20 cm × 30 cm is brought closer to the Fig. 14. Graphical representation of the change of the fit parameters k1 and k2
with concrete block distance to the NSRR probe.
NSRR probe from behind on the translation stage. The experi-
mental setup and the measured change of resonance frequency
with d are shown in Fig. 12 and Fig. 13, respectively. The frequency change, that is, the frequency difference between
jumper length l is 4 cm for all measurements. In Fig. 13, the d = 10 mm and d = 0 mm, also decreases as the concrete
numerical fits applied to the experimental data are also shown block is brought closer to the NSRR probe. This is different
for each distance. These plots demonstrate that the presence of than the effect of changing l, which is shown to introduce
a concrete block behind the NSRR starts to disrupt the signal only a frequency offset at all d values in Fig. 4. This impact
at a distance between 3-5 cm, and for the distances below can be described in the best way by observing the change
this value, the frequency continues to decrease further. The of fit parameters k1 and k2 again, while other parameters
reason is again the additional capacitance introduced by the remain the same. Table II gives the fit parameters for every
concrete block, and below a specific distance, it dominates concrete block distance, and Fig. 14 shows the variation of
the sensor response. In Fig. 13, it is observed that the total these parameters graphically. We can understand that both the
5552 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 15, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2015

slope and the average of the frequency shift curves are

subject to an exponential decrease as concrete block is brought
closer, accelerating even further for distances below approxi-
mately 1.5 cm. Since the sensitivity of the sensor is defined
as the change of frequency over a range of d, the placement
of the concrete block behind the NSRR probe causes a severe
loss of sensitivity. For the distances shorter than 1 cm, the
concrete block starts to disrupt the coupling of the system
even more gravely, basically to the point that the frequency
shifts start to be overwhelmed with the capacitive loading of
the concrete background. Therefore, it can be deduced that a
minimum distance of 1 cm should be kept between the existing
NSRR probe geometry and the reinforced or unreinforced
concrete. With the effect of the inevitable concrete cover
already shown to be minimal, a thorough sensor operation
can be anticipated provided that this distance is preserved.
The easiest way to maintain such a separation is to back the Fig. 15. Change of frequency with displacement for three different concrete
NSRR probe with an air-like dielectric material, that is, to samples with varying ages and rebar grid presence. The blocks are placed at
a distance of 2 cm behind the NSRR probe.
fill the gap between the concrete core and the NSRR with a
material whose electromagnetic properties are close to those
of free space. A 1 cm thick separator fabricated from such this variation is only around 6 MHz at maximum for any
a material can be split into two halves and can be fastened d value. The deviation of this beam of curves from the
to the comb-like NSRR probe parts and to the rebar without no-concrete case is due to the disruptive nature of the concrete
difficulty. The idea is to use the separator in the same shape block itself. Hence, the age factor, and whether the concrete
with the NSRR geometry and to have it freely moving with is reinforced or unreinforced makes a little change in terms of
forming displacements so that the strain is directly transfered the sensor performance.
to the probe. One possible choice for the separator material
is the polystyrene foam since it is cheap and commonly used
and its dielectric constant of 2.5 is one of the closest to free V. C ONCLUSION
space. In this work, the performance of a near-field wireless
In a real life scenario, the rebar grid is generally embedded displacement and strain sensor is investigated in the presence
inside the concrete behind the NSRR probe and it may be of an electromagnetically complex medium constituted by
expected to change the electromagnetic behavior of the com- different combinations of the rebar grid and concrete. The
plex medium. Yet another factor that can affect this behavior results show that although these components all give rise to a
is the age of the concrete. It is known that the electromagnetic changed resonance frequency of the coupled system to some
properties of the concrete are subject to change with time, as it degree, the sensor can still operate in real-life SHM conditions.
dries slowly. In order to test these effects, four concrete blocks The 4 cm thick concrete cover placed between the antenna and
with the same dimensions as the one shown in Fig. 12 are the NSRR probe is shown only to scarcely affect the sensor
prepared. The first block incorporates a 3-dimensional rebar operation. The rebar grid content inside the concrete block and
grid. The second block, which is prepared one month later, the age of the concrete sample are also shown to be of minor
does not contain any rebar grid inside. The third and fourth importance, and different combinations of these parameters
blocks are prepared at the same day and two months after the yield similar frequency-displacement curves.
second block, and one of them contains a rebar grid while The most detrimental case is observed when a concrete
the other does not. In the experiment, these concrete samples block is present immediately behind the NSRR. To overcome
are placed at a 2 cm distance behind the NSRR probe with the disruptive effects of the concrete core behind the NSRR,
a jumper length of 4 cm. The comparison of the results for placement of a separator material with air-like electromag-
the last two blocks is useful in understanding the difference netic properties between the probe and the concrete core is
between a reinforced concrete sample and an unreinforced proposed. These effects are the most prominent when the
one which are prepared on the same day. On the other hand, distance between the NSRR and the concrete is less than 1 cm,
comparison of the first and second cases with the last two therefore the thickness of the separator can be selected to
cases gives an idea on the effect of the concrete age on the be 1 cm. This, with the addition of the concrete cover, is a case
sensor performance. Therefore, the effects created due to both which mimics the real-life SHM application the most closely.
the age and the rebar grid content of the concrete blocks can be The fact that the sensor operates well in such a case, showing
comprehended by these experiments. The change of frequency a resolution of 1 μm, is very promising. This resolution is the
for all these samples are shown in Fig. 15. best in comparison to the similar wireless displacement sensors
Fig. 15 shows that even though there is a variation of available in the literature. The high resolution and sensitivity
frequency shifting regime among different combinations of are thought to result from the high near-field coupling between
reinforced and unreinforced concrete blocks with varying ages, the antenna and the used comb-like NSRR probe geometry
OZBEY et al.: WIRELESS SENSING IN COMPLEX ELECTROMAGNETIC MEDIA 5553

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5554 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 15, NO. 10, OCTOBER 2015

Burak Ozbey (S’12) was born in Ankara, Turkey, Vakur B. Ertürk (M’00) received the B.S. degree
in 1986. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in in electrical engineering from Middle East Technical
electrical and electronics engineering from Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, in 1993, and the
University, Ankara, Turkey, in 2008 and 2011, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from The Ohio-State Univer-
respectively, where he is currently pursuing the sity, Columbus, in 1996 and 2000, respectively. He is
Ph.D. degree. His research interests include electro- currently an Associate Professor with the Electrical
magnetic theory, microwave circuits, metamaterials, and Electronics Engineering Department, Bilkent
and design and testing of wireless RF sensors. University, Ankara. His research interests include
the analysis and design of planar and conformal
arrays, high-frequency techniques, structural health
monitoring, magnetic resonance imaging, scattering
from and propagation over large terrain profiles. He served as the Secre-
tary/Treasurer of the IEEE Turkey Section and the Turkey Chapter of the
Hilmi Volkan Demir received the M.S. and IEEE Antennas and Propagation, Microwave Theory and Techniques, Electron
Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University. He is cur- Devices, and Electromagnetic Compatibility Societies. He was a recipient of
rently a Professor of Electrical Engineering and the 2005 URSI Young Scientist and the 2007 Turkish Academy of Sciences
Physics. He is the EURYI Associate Professor Distinguished Young Scientist Awards.
with Bilkent University, Turkey. Concurrently, he is
named a Fellow by the Singapore National Research
Foundation and appointed to a Nanyang Associate
Professorship at Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore. He serves as the Director of the Lumi-
nous! Center of Excellence. Among his research
interests are semiconductor device physics and wire- Ayhan Altintas (SM’93) received the B.S. and
less sensing. He has contributed to commercialization and licensing of several M.S. degrees from Middle East Technical Univer-
new enabling technologies and establishing a successful company and led sity (METU), Ankara, Turkey, in 1979 and 1981,
to more than 30 patent applications, several of which have currently been respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from The Ohio
used, owned or licensed by the industry. These scientific and entrepreneurship State University, Columbus, in 1986. From 1981
activities resulted in important international awards, including the Nanyang to 1987, he was with the ElectroScience Labora-
Award for Research Excellence, the European Science Foundation European tory, The Ohio State University. He is currently
Young Investigator Award, and The Outstanding Young Person in the World a Professor of Electrical Engineering with Bilkent
Award from the JCI Federation of Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs. University, Ankara, Turkey. He has held research
fellow and guest professor positions at Australian
National University, Canberra, Australia, the Tokyo
Institute of Technology, Japan, the Technical University of Munich, Germany,
Ozgur Kurc received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in and Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. His research interests include
civil engineering from METU and the Ph.D. degree high frequency and numerical techniques in electromagnetic scattering and
in structural engineering from the Georgia Institute diffraction, propagation modeling and simulation, and fiber and integrated
of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, in 2005. He is optics. He is a member of Sigma Xi and Phi Kappa Phi. He is a Fulbright
currently an Associate Professor of Structural Scholar, and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow. He is the President of the
Engineering with the Structural and Earthquake URSI Turkish National Committee. He was a recipient of the IEEE Third
Engineering Laboratory, Department of Civil Engi- Millennium Medal. He received the ElectroScience Laboratory Outstanding
neering, METU, Ankara, Turkey. His current Dissertation Award of 1986, the IEEE 1991 Outstanding Student Branch
research interests involve wind and earthquake engi- Counselor Award, the 1991 Research Award of Prof. Mustafa N. Parlar
neering, finite element method, high performance Foundation of METU, and the Young Scientist Award of Scientific and
computing, and analysis and design of high-rise Technical Research Council of Turkey, Tubitak, in 1996. He was the Chairman
buildings. of the IEEE Turkey Section for the terms 1991–1993 and 1995–1997.