June 1988 | Other NBSIR 88-3095

Dielectric Mixing Rules for Background Test Soils

Richard G. Geyer

Abstract: The bulk, or effective, dielectric constant of any background test medium (whether naturally occurring or synthetic) determines the electromagnetic visibility of buried objects. Heuristic mixing rules are considered that allow the prediction of complex dielectric behavior in linear, homogenous, isotropic, and lossy multi-phase soil mixtures. Measurement results in bioelectromagnetic and microwave remote sensing suggest a refractive mixing model as that being most suited for dry soils or soil-water mixtures.

Keywords: dielectric simulation; mixing rules

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