Non-Invasive Bottle Inspection: Microwave Imaging with a UWB Vivaldi Antenna

Abstract

This paper presents a non-invasive bottle inspection system utilizing a compact Vivaldi antenna for microwave imaging. The proposed system integrates antennas operating from 2.4 to 17.7 GHz into a conveyor-based production line. Through full-wave electromagnetic simulations, the system's performance is evaluated for detecting undesirable objects within a glass jar, varying in size, quantity, and position. The delay and sum method is utilized to reconstruct the images. The results successfully demonstrate the detection of a 0.4 mm polyethylene terephthalate object embedded within water. Analysis of S-parameters and reconstructed images confirms the potential of this microwave imaging approach for high-sensitivity, non-destructive food quality control.