Design and Implementation of Ethernet Based Embedded System for the Measurement of Dielectric Constant in Solids

Abstract

Measurement of physical parameter is one of the most important task before it is put to use in any application. In this direction dielectric constant plays an important role, especially in solids. This is because; dielectric data helps in gaining insight into the molecular structure of compounds, estimate the amount of moisture in wood, sand and agricultural products and used for an online determination of water content in crude oil flowing in a pipeline. The main aim of the present work is design and implementation of an Ethernet based embedded system to measure dielectric constant in solids. The system utilizes frequency measurement technique for determination of capacitance using the microcontroller as a tool while most of the conventional techniques measure the capacitance using the bridge methods. Low power high performance C8051F120 mixed signal controller controls the entire assembly. The data is displayed on LCD, hyper terminal of the system monitor and web server simultaneously with date and time using Ethernet