A non-destructive approach for extracting the complex dielectric constant of the walls in building

The propagation of electromagnetic waves in indoor environments is strongly influenced by reflectivity and transmissibility of building construction materials. This paper describes a free-space measurement technique for determining the complex dielectric constant and loss tangent of existing walls in building. The measurement setup was consisted of Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and two horn antennas. The data obtained by measurement were compared with the data estimated by reflection model. The overall trend reflection coefficients obtained by reflection model agree rather well with the trend of the measurements. The dielectric constant and tangent loss were estimated by implementing algorithm which minimizes appropriate objective function. The measurements were made for vertical and horizontal polarization of incidence waves.