MICROWAVE ELECTROMAGNETIC SENSORS TO ESTIMATE WATER DENSITY WITHIN SNOW

The paper introduces a compact sensing topology based on a distributed alignment of electromagnetic radiators, deployed in a predefined distance to form an ad-hoc network, able to reveal the differential variation of humidity inside snowfields. By monitoring the relative attenuation among two separate alignments of vertical antennas, the relative permittivity and electrical conductivity of the snow can be deduced with sufficient precision. The two terms can be used as a precise indicators of dramatic events such as avalanches and landslides. The simulation results show that the dynamic of the signal attenuation is enough to reveal the snow water density