EvaluationofadigitalTDRfor

determinationofpermittivity
andbulkelectricalconductivity

RobertSchwartz1,ScottAnderson2,StevenEvett1
1USDAARS,Bushland,TX
2Acclima,Inc.,Meridian,ID

TimeDomainReflectometry
Signalattenuationincoaxial
cable,probehandle,muxs,
logisticsmanagingcables
Canpartlycorrectforattenuationbutdifficultand
notalwayssatisfactory(Schwartzetal.,2009;
2013)
Acclima,Inc.releasedanewTDRprobethat
circumventsproblemofmaintaininghigh
frequencysignaloverlongdistances(515m)

Acclima TDR3151
Allelectronicsrequiredforwaveform
acquisitionareembeddedinprobe
handle;SDI12communication
Seriesofsteppulseslauncheddowna
0.15mtransmissionline
Digitizedamplitudeobtainedwith
voltagecomparatoratgiventimeoffset
Timeoffsetisincreased(i.e.by20ps)
andtheamplitudeisevaluatedagain
Entirewaveformcanbeacquiredin
abouta2minutes(400amplitudesat
samplingintervalsof20ps).

Acclima TDR315
Operationallywaveformsarenotacquired;
firmwareinmemorychipacquirespertinent
waveformfeatures:

Waveformgeneratedatcoarsetimeincrements

Windowidentifiedcontainingthereflectionatendof
transmissionline

Thisportionofwaveformsampledathighertime
resolutionfordeterminationoftraveltime

Apparentpermittivity,bulkEC,watercontent,time
offset,andotherwaveformfeaturestransmittedto
dataloggerviaSDI12communications

Objectives
CalibrateTDR3151 usingwaveformsinair&waterandin
solutionsofCaCl2
SoilwatercontentcalibrationofPullmanclayloam
TDR315usingfirmwareestimatesKa &BEC
TDR315usingacquiredwaveforms
ConventionalTDRwith0.15mprobes

Presentresultsforacolumndisplacementexperiment
(TDR&TDR315)
VarybulkECindependentofwatercontent&porosity
1Prototypesensorswithidenticalelectronicsassensorscurrentlysoldby

Acclima butwithapreliminaryversionofthefirmware.

TDR315waveformacquisition
Waveformsacquired20ps increments
Amplitudesconvertedtoreflectioncoefficients
V V0

V0

where

V20 ps
V0
2

Calculationoftravel
timeusingAWIGF
(Schwartzetal.,2014)
CalculationofBulkEC
usingreflection
coefficientat~20ns

in air

TDR315air watercalibration(usingAWIGF)

TDR315air watercalibration(usingAWIGF)

TDR315 ECcalibrationinCaCl2solutions
GieseandTiemann (1975)
thinsectionapproach
Calibrationbasedonlong
timereflection(20ns)

Kp /Z0 =slope

Acclima TDR315
prototypefirmware

TDR315calibrationresults
Probe
1
2
3
4
5
6

Electrical
Length
m
0.1495
0.1493
0.1496
0.1493
0.1489
0.1493

tc(offset)
ns
0.186
0.226
0.205
0.150
0.202
0.204

V0

6064
5980
5901
5754
5453
5965

***Kp/Z0ofTDR(0.15m)averaged0.0926Sm1

Kp/Z0
Sm1
0.0840
0.0923
0.0917
0.0815
0.0978
0.0918

Pullmansoilwatercalibrationdetails
SixTDR315probes

AcquiredwaveformsanalyzedwithAWIGF
(Schwartzetal.,2014)fortraveltime&Ka
FirmwareestimatesofKa

TwoTDRprobes(0.15mlength)

8.5mcablewith1502CTektronixcabletester
ProbecalibrationidenticaltoTDR315
AcquiredwaveformsanalyzedwithAWIGF

Repackedsoilin10.2cmdiametercolumns

4watercontents(airdrytonearsaturation)
3temperatures:6,20,&40o Celsius

Pullmansoilwatercalibrationresults

Closeagreementof
permittivity(Ka)
estimatedbyTDR,
TDR315waveforms,
TDR315firmware

RMSE=0.017to
0.020m3 m3

RMSE=0.032m3 m3
forwatercontent
estimatedby
firmware

Columndisplacementexperiment
Establish flow and equilibrium
with influent solutions
0.25 dS m-1 CaCl2
7.2 dS m-1 CaCl2
0.25 dS m-1 CaCl2

CaCl2 Influent Solution

Monitor permittivity & BEC during

breakthrough of solutions
8

EC or BEC, dS m

-1

Outflow EC
TDR BEC

Soil

TDR
Acclima-315

Effluent EC

0
102

104

106

108

Day of Year

110

112

Load cell

ColumnDisplacement ApparentPermittivity
Water
content
NOT
changing

(AWIGF)

ColumnDisplacement ApparentPermittivity
Distinct
reflection
required
to
accurately
measure
travel
time

ColumnDisplacement BulkEC
LongTime

Summary
ResponseisessentiallyidenticaltoconventionalTDR
SignificantlylessattenuationthanconventionalTDR
Greaterproportionofhighfrequencyportionofsignalretained
SuitableforhigherBEC(stableKa upto2.8dS m1)

GieseandTiemann (1975)approachforBulkEC
determinationgiveshighlylinearresponse

ProbeconstantKp /Z0 similartoTDR

Algorithmsusedinfirmwareofprototypesensors(algorithms
havebeenmodifiedforsensorscurrentlysoldbyAcclima)
BulkECalgorithmnotyetdevelopedfortheseprototypesensors.
ApparentPermittivity:Stableestimateoftraveltime(andKa).Better
estimatesofpermittivitymaybeobtainedbysamplingwaveformsata
highertimeresolutionwhenbulkECislarge(> 2dS m1)

Acknowledgements

Funding:

TDR315Development:
DavidAnderson,Acclima,Inc.
HyrumAnderson,Consultant
IAEA,SoilandWaterManagement
andCropNutritionSection
SBIRPhaseIIGrant

References
Giese,K.,andR.Tiemann.1975.Determinationofthecomplexpermittivityfrom
thinsampletimedomainreflectometryimprovedanalysisofthestepwaveform.
Adv.Mol.Relax.Processes7:4559.
Schwartz,R.C.,J.J.Casanova,J.M.Bell,andS.R.Evett,S.R.2014.Areevaluationof
TDRpropagationtimedeterminationinsoils.Vadose ZoneJ.2014.

1Theuseoftrade,firm,orcorporationnamesinthisarticleisfortheinformation

andconvenienceofthereader.Suchusedoesnotconstituteanofficial
endorsementorapprovalbytheUnitedStatesDepartmentofAgricultureorthe
AgriculturalResearchServiceofanyproductorservicetotheexclusionofothers
thatmaybesuitable.