title: Design and Validation of a Ten-Port Waveguide Reflectometer Sensor: Application to Efficiency Measurement and Optimization of Microwave-Heating Ovens.
abstract: This work presents the design, manufacturing process, calibration and validation of a new microwave ten-port waveguide reflectometer based on the use of neural networks. This low-cost novel device solves some of the shortcomings of previous reflectometers such as non-linear behavior of power sensors, noise presence and the complexity of the calibration procedure, which is often based on complex mathematical equations. These problems, which imply the reduction of the reflection coefficient measurement accuracy, have been overcome by using a higher number of probes than usual six-port configurations and by means of the use of Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural networks in order to reduce the influence of noise and non-linear processes over the measurements. Additionally, this sensor can be reconfigured whenever some of the eight coaxial power detectors fail, still providing accurate values in real time. The ten-port performance has been compared against a high-cost measurement instrument such as a vector network analyzer and applied to the measurement and optimization of energy efficiency of microwave ovens, with good results.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena / Campus Muralla del Mar s/n, 30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain. juan.pmolina@upct.es.
authors.forename: Juan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pedreño-Molina
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena / Campus Muralla del Mar s/n, 30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain. juan.monzo@upct.es.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Monzó-Cabrera
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicaciones, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena / Campus Muralla del Mar s/n, 30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain. antonio.lozano@upct.es.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lozano-Guerrero
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Tecnología Electrónica, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena / Campus Muralla del Mar s/n, 30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain. ana.toledo@upct.es.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toledo-Moreo
keywords: Reflectometer; microwave sensor; neural calibration; scattering parameter