A High-Stability Capacitance Sensor System and Its Evaluation

Abstract

A new capacitance sensor system was developed with a microcontroller, commercial humidity and temperature sensors a capacitance-to-digital converter, and a custom-built capacitance sensor. The performance of the system was evaluated by simulation and testing of the prototype. The impact of variations of ambient conditions on the system performance was analyzed, and a model for correcting the humidity and temperature influence was developed. Based on the experimental results obtained in an uncontrolled environment using a standard capacitor of 1 pF, the 24-h stability of the system was estimated to be within 30 parts in 106. The high stability and sensitivity of the system allow its effective use in object-detection applications. Several sensors were constructed and evaluated while sensing various materials under different scenarios.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA535274

Entities

People

  • Rae D. Lee
  • Svetlana Avramov-Zamurovic

Organizations

  • United States Naval Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Capacitance
  • Capacitance Bridges
  • Capacitors
  • Converters
  • Data Sets
  • Electric Fields
  • Humidity
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Models
  • Personal Computers
  • Prototypes
  • Simulations
  • Standards
  • Test And Evaluation
  • United States Naval Academy

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.