Application of genetic algorithms in the determination of dielectric properties of materials at microwave frequencies

Abstract

In this paper the application of an evolutionary procedure based on genetic algorithms for obtaining the dielectric properties of arbitrary shaped, homogeneous or inhomogeneous materials is presented. The optimization procedure matches the measured and simulated scattering parameters of a waveguide setup that contains the sample under study. Depending on the geometry of the sample, analytic or numerical (2D or 3D) electromagnetic simulations must be carried out in order to obtain the simulated scattering parameters for a set of electric permittivities. Results for different polymeric and biological materials are presented with similar uncertainties than conventional direct methods, with the advantage that this new technique can deal with non-canonical and heterogeneous samples. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.