Looker, Christopher (2024) Exploring Metamaterial Devices for Mechanical Sensing. [USQ Project]
Abstract
The electromagnetic characteristics of metamaterials can be engineered and optimised for use in sensors, this research introduces a novel sensor capable of representing the forces experienced at the atomic level. The sensor can be embedded within a material or coated onto a surface, allowing for permanent integration. Telemetry methods can be employed to obtain information about the forces applied to the material under test. Metamaterials are composed of many recurring elements that can be engineered to have specific responses to an electromagnetic wave., an exploration on the current state of research has found split ring resonators react to electromagnetic waves the same way as an atom. This can be seen as a kind of magnifying glass for focussing on stresses.
This research will design and test a novel sensor material that changes its electromagnetic response when torque is applied. Operation occurs in the microwave range and is based on changes in the split ring resonators gap alignment due to an applied force. This will reduce capacitance and increase the fundamental frequency of oscillation. Numerical methods indicate that this can be modelled by increasing the gap width to represent changes in ring alignment. Simulation and lab testing results show the sensor is responding to external forces where and increase in angle resulted in a shift in resonant frequency. Five angles were measured between 0⁰ and 50⁰ which produced a frequency shift range of 3.68MHz. This is important due to the fact no active circuit was used to power the elements. Communication was achieved by transmitting sweep frequencies and determining the reflection coefficients. This provides an improvement on existing sensor technology which is heavily dependent of device location, and connectivity. Applications are beneficial in fields of biotechnology, automotive, robotics, aerospace and structural engineering.
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Statistics for this ePrint Item |
| Item Type: | USQ Project |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Engineering (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Dinh, Toan |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Electrical and Electronic) |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Mar 2026 05:19 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Mar 2026 05:19 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | metamaterials; sensors; electromagnetic wave |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/53135 |
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