In this work, the application of a technique for monitoring changes of the dielectric constant of the atmosphere caused by the presence of pollution is discussed. The method is based on changes in the reflection coefficient of the device induced by these dielectric constant variations of the surrounding medium. To that end, several Yagi-Uda-like antenna designs with different size limitations were simulated by using a Method-of-Moments software and optimized by means of a simulated annealing strategy. It has been found that the larger the optimal elements of the array are allowed to be, the higher the sensitivity reached. Thus, in a trade-off between sensitivity and moderate length (regarding flexibility purposes), the most promising solution has been built. This prototype has been experimentally tested in presence of an artificial aerosol made of PAO (polyalphaolefin) oil and black carbon inclusions of a size of 0.2 μm. As a result, potentials for developing a measurement procedure by means of changes in the characteristic parameters of the antenna led by different concentration levels of suspended particles in the surrounding medium are shown. In this manner, a local mapping of polluted levels could be developed in an easy, real-time, and flexible procedure.
Keywords: Yagi–Uda antennas; air pollution; antenna arrays; dielectric constant; optimization methods.