Microwave Tomography in Timber Processing: Two Examples

The determination of moisture content in raw timber is an important parameter to determine its processing life cycle. In this paper two novel methods are presented to measure this, one using the radiant electric field from a pair of parallel transmission lines and the other the capacitance built up between contact electrodes. Both methods are arranged to provide a tomographic solution to the distribution to improve either resolution (parallel line) or volume coverage (capacitance). It is shown that while improvements can be made to each technique both have the potential to accurately provide a measure of the required parameters.