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Design Symmetric and Asymmetric Single Circular Split Ring Microwave

Sensor Using COMSOL Multiphysics

Conference Paper · December 2019

DOI: 10.1109/ICICIS46948.2019.9014746

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 2019 IEEE Ninth International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems (ICICIS)
Design Symmetric and Asymmetric Single
Circular Split Ring Microwave Sensor Using
COMSOL Multiphysics
Sameh Sherif Mohamed. A. A. Eldosoky
Biomedical Engineering Department, Biomedical Engineering Department,
Helwan University Helwan University
Cairo, Egypt Cairo, Egypt
Center of Nanoelectronics and Devices mohamed_eldesouky@h-
(CND), Zewail City of Science and eng.helwan.edu.eg
Technology and The American
University in Cairo (AUC)
Giza, Egypt
Sameh.Sherif@aucegypt.edu
Abstract— Microwave sensors are very promising for
sensing the biological medium with different advantages such as
non-invasive and miniaturized dimensions. In this paper, the
analysis of the change in the geometry parameters of a planar
circular split microwave sensors for detecting and
characterizing the dielectric properties of different materials is
presented. The study is applied on two main types of sensors, a
planar symmetrical split ring resonator (SSRR) and a planar
Asymmetrical split ring resonator (ASRR). These sensors are
used to investigate the difference in dielectric properties of the
medium which affected the resonance frequency based on the
perturbation theory. The results show a comprehensive study
for the microwave sensor. It can be used in different application
as a high sensitivity sensor to extract the difference among more
matched materials in S-parameters. The mathematical model is
developed for the accurate calculation of shifts in the resonant
frequencies, transmission, and reflection coefficients S21 and
S11 under loaded materials vs the change of sensor geometric
and the orientation of the gap. The analysis and simulation are
investigated using COMSOL Multiphysics tool.
Keywords— Microwave Sensors, Asymmetrical Split Ring
Resonator, Symmetrical Split Ring Resonator, Transmission
Coefficients, Reflection Coefficient, COMSOL, Resonance
Frequency.
I. INTRODUCTION
In the last decades, the electric properties of materials
and their structural composition analysis are interesting.
Also, the sensing and characterization techniques of an
unknown sample is an imperative area of biology. The
traditional chemical methods used for sensing the electric
parameters of biological materials are time-consuming,
destructive and requires a large volume of a testing sample
[1]. The microwave sensor considered an effective technique
due to many advantages such as high sensitivity, real-time
measurements, nondestructive, and label-free. The
sensitivity of the sensor considered an effective parameter.
The improving of the electric parameters extraction is
proportional to the sensitivity of the microwave sensor
Microwave sensor has specific resonance characteristics
such as the resonance frequency based on the geometric
dimension and the dielectric properties of the sensing
material which called the substrate [2]. The sensing method
is based on the change in the resonance frequencies peaks
when the presence of the sample to be characterized or the
change of the dielectric parameters of the sample. Different
analysis techniques are based on the detection of the
978-1-7281-3995-119$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
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Ahmed M. Soliman
Biomedical Engineering Department,
Helwan University
Cairo, Egypt
ahmed_soliman05@h-
eng.helwan.edu.eg
frequency response shifts as a function in the presence of
different materials. There are many various application and
techniques depend on the detection of the frequency shift
such as the biological and biomedical applications.
Split-Ring Resonators (SRR) combine between the main
advantages of real-time analysis and the detection of the
frequency shift. The planar Split-Ring Resonator (SRR) was
introduced by Pendry in the late 90s. The sensor structures
based on SRRs are interesting for sensing applications due
to its low cost, quick response time, high sensitivity and
selectivity [3]. Other approaches based on SRRs structures
have been proposed such as biosensor of the symmetric and
asymmetric split-ring resonator (SSRR & ASRR). SSRR is
considered the most exploited topologies of metamaterials
and has been utilized for the synthesis of various
structures/components such as radio frequency (RF)
antennas, sensors, filters, and absorbers [4]. Various
configuration of SSRR topologies has been investigated
such as circular, square, triangular, etc. The selection of
configuration is utilized depending on the requirements of
the applications. SSRR and its resonant elements provide
high-quality factor at microwave and millimeter wave
frequencies [5].
In [6], the control of Q-factor using asymmetric
microwave sensor and the effect of gap position on the
transmission coefficient of ASRR are described. The
powerful techniques of change the gap position of the
asymmetric sensor can be a concept to extract the dielectric
parameters of more matched material special in biomedical
applications.
In this paper, the microwave sensor based on SSRR and
ASRR to extract the electric parameters of different
materials according to the control of geometry and gap
position of the microwave sensor are proposed.
II. THE SENSOR DESIGN
The change of the geometric of microwave sensor and
the gap position and width is proposed to extract the electric
parameters of the material. Figure 1. shows the design of the
microwave sensor with the geometric dimension of SSRR
width 1, 2, and 3 mm, radius 3 and 6 mm and the gap width
1, 3, and 5 mm. The main important reason to change the
geometrical dimensions is defining the effective design
concept to extract the electric parameter of a biological
substrate. Also, the resonant frequency of the elements can
be tuned by adjusting the device dimensions r, w, s, and g,
 2019 IEEE Ninth International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems (ICICIS)

which are represent inner radius, a width of ring/slot, split
gap, and coupling gap between consecutive rings,
respectively.
The proposed dimensions of the ASRR geometric are the
same as mentioned previously in SSRR dimensions for the
ASRR width, the radius and the gap width. In addition, the
change of the gap position with different 𝜃 position are 𝜃1
= 0ᵒ, 𝜃2 = 30ᵒ, 𝜃3 = 60ᵒ, 𝜃4 = 90ᵒ, 𝜃5 = 120ᵒ, 𝜃6 = 150ᵒ, 𝑎𝑛𝑑
𝜃7 = 180ᵒ. A flame retardant (FR4) board is used as a
substrate. The reason for the selection FR4 due to its stable
dielectric properties (εr and tanδ) even at different
temperatures and frequencies. Therefore, it is the first choice
for RF and microwave designs.
capacitance decreases as the gap dimension increases based
on the relation between the gap width (g) and the gap
capacitance (Cgap) as shown as follows [8]:
𝐶𝑔𝑎p=𝜀0∗(ℎ𝑤/𝑔) (1)
Where: ε0, w, h, and g are the free space permittivity,
the ring thickness, and the height of the SSRR, and the gab
width respectively. Fig. 5 shows the plotted S-parameters
with the effect of the decreasing in the capacitance of the
gap. The resonance frequency value for the reflection
coefficient |S11| is around 20 dB. Also, the resonance
frequency in the transmission coefficient |S21| is around 6
GHz compared with the 5.5 GHz in Fig. 3 for the first
configuration (gap width (g)= 1 mm).
The results show that the significant clear difference in
the S-parameters with the small change in the capacitance of
the gap.

Fig. 1. A) Schematic of SSRR microwave sensor with main geometrical

parameters. B) The equivalent circuit of the microwave sensor.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The simulation is applied to extract the difference in Fig. 2. The electric field distribution for the first configuration with the
reflection and transmission coefficients S11 and S21 as a maximum electric field value according to the gap width is around 1.6
function of applied frequency. The results extracted with the KV/m.
change in the different geometry parameters as mentioned in
the previous section.
IV. THE CAPACITANCE OF THE GAP.
A. The change in the Gap width.
In this part, the effect of varying the gap width on the S-
parameters S11 and S21 is studied. The S-parameters of the
different selected structure describes the relationship
between the incident voltage waves on the ports of the
structure and its reflection and transmission [7]. At a
different structure, the analysis of S-parameters gives Fig. 3. The influence of the change in S-parameters for the first
information about transmitted, absorbed, and reflected configuration according to the gap width.
energy. The reflection coefficient S11, and the transmission
coefficient S21 are plotted at different structures.
The first configuration has 1 mm ring thickness, 3 mm
internal radius, 4 mm external radius, 1 mm gap width, and
𝜃1 = 0ᵒ gap angle. As shown in Fig. 2, the maximum electric
field value according to the first configuration is around 1.6
KV/m. As shown in Fig. 3, the maximum resonance
frequency peak for the transmission coefficient |S11| is 5.5
GHz, and |S11| value at this frequency is around 15 dB.
Furthermore, the distribution of the transmission coefficient
Fig. 4. The electric field distribution for the second configuration with the
|S21| has uniform resonance frequency peak around 5.5 GHz maximum electric field value according to the gap width is around 1.6
and resonance frequency peak around 8.5 GHz. The KV/m.
maximum value of the peak distribution |S21| is around 60
dB. The second configuration has 1 mm ring thickness, 3
mm internal radius, 4 mm external radius, and 2 mm gap
width. Figure 4 and 5 show the effect of the change in these
parameters. Furthermore, it shows the relation between the
change in the transmission coefficient and the change in the
geometry of the sensor ring.
As shown in Fig. 4, the maximum electric field value
according to the gap thickness is around 1.6 KV/m. The

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 2019 IEEE Ninth International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems (ICICIS)

as in Fig. 2 except the value of ring thickness. The value of

Fig. 5. The influence of the change in S-parameters for the second
configuration according to the gap width.
The third configuration has more decreasing in the gap
capacitance by increasing the gap width. It has 1 mm ring
thickness, 3 mm internal radius, 4 mm external radius, and 3
mm gap width. As shown in Fig. 6, the maximum electric
field value according to the gap thickness is around 1.8
KV/m. As shown in Fig. 7, the shifting in the resonance
frequency is around 0.5 GHz and the resonance frequency is
around 6.4 GHz. Also, the shifting of the resonance frequency
of S21 is increased compared with the previous first and
second configurations. Furthermore, the maximum peak of
|S11| is around 16 dB.
the ring thickness is duplicated. As shown in Fig. 8, the
maximum electric field value according to the ring thickness
is around 2.2 KV/m. As shown in Fig. 9, the shifting in the
resonance frequency is around 0.5 GHz in the left direction
and the resonance frequency is around 5 GHz. Also, the
maximum peak of |S11| is around 24 dB. Also, the shifting
to left for the resonance frequency occurs for the transmission
coefficient S11. The inductance of the rings is affected by the
ring thickness. The results show the inverse proportional
between the ring thickness and the resonance frequency.
Furthermore, the increment of the ring thickness by 1 mm
decreases the resonance frequency by 0.5 GHz.
Fig. 8. The electric field distribution for the first configuration with the
maximum electric field value according to the ring thickness is around
2.2 KV/m.

Fig. 6. The electric field distribution for the third configuration with the
maximum electric field value according to the gap thickness is around
1.8 KV/m. Fig. 9. The influence of the change in S-parameters for the first
configuration according to the ring thickness.

The second configuration has 3 mm the ring thickness, 3 mm

Fig. 7. The influence of the change in S-parameters for the third
configuration according to the gap thickness.
internal radius, and 1 mm gap width. The symmetric
increment in the ring thickness is used to show the symmetric
influence in the results. As shown in Fig. 10, the maximum
electric field value according to the ring thickness is around
3 KV/m. For both transmission and reflection coefficients
S11 and S21, the electric field distribution is increased, and
the resonance frequency is decreased. As shown in Fig. 11,
the shifting in the resonance frequency is around 0.5 GHz in
the left direction and the resonance frequency is around 4.4
GHz. Also, the maximum peak of |S11| is around 20 dB.

V. THE INDUCTANCE OF THE RING.

A. The Thickness width of the sensor Ring
In this part, the effect of varying the ring thickness (w) on the
S-parameters S11 and S21 is studied. The inductance of the
ring can be calculated as follows [8]:
2
𝐿𝑅𝑖𝑛𝑔 = (𝜇0 ∗ 𝜋 ∗ 𝑅𝑚 )/ℎ (2)
Where: 𝜇0 is the free space permeability and 𝑅𝑚 = ℎ − 𝑤/2.
This approximation is valid for a small split (r >> g) which
will not affect greatly the final inductance [8]. The first Fig. 10. The electric field distribution for the second configuration with the
configuration has 2 mm the ring thickness, 3 mm internal maximum electric field value according to the ring thickness is around
field 3 KV/m.
radius, and 1 mm gap width. This configuration is the same

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 2019 IEEE Ninth International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems (ICICIS)
Fig. 11. The influence of the change in S-parameters for the second
configuration according to the ring thickness.
B. The radius of the ring.
In this part, the effect of varying the ring radius on the S-
parameters S11 and S21 is studied. The first configuration has
1 mm the ring thickness, 6 mm internal radius, and 1 mm gap
width. The inductance of the rings is affected by the ring
radius. The results show the inverse proportional between the
ring radius and the resonance frequency. As shown in Fig. 12,
the maximum electric field value according to the ring radius
is around 7.2 KV/m. As shown in Fig. 13, it found two main
resonance frequencies for transmission coefficient |S11| at 3
GHz and 9 GHz with peak values around 24 dB and 22 dB,
respectively. This significant difference in the resonance
frequencies and the S-parameters can be used as a reference
to differ among different materials which matched in S-
parameters. Therefore, the small change in the geometry of
the microwave sensor can clarify the difference between the
different materials.
Fig. 12. The electric field distribution for the first configuration with the
maximum electric field value according to the ring radius is around 7.2
KV/m
Fig. 13. The influence of the change in S-parameters for the first
configuration according to the ring thickness.
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VI. ASYMMETRIC DESIGN
A. The Position of the Gap.
ASRR sensor can be achieved by the change in the gap angle
as described in [9]. Or it can achieve by the two arcs with two
gaps as described in [10]. In this part, the effect of varying
the gap angle of the ASRR sensor on the S-parameters S11
and S21 is studied. The first configuration has 1 mm the ring
thickness, 3 mm internal radius, 1 mm gap width, and 𝜃2
=30° gap angle. As shown in Fig. 14, the maximum electric
field value according to the ring radius is around 2.2 KV/m.
As shown in Fig. 15, the resonance frequency for
transmission coefficient |S11| at 5.5 GHz with peak value
around 8 dB. The results show the inverse proportional
between the gap angle and the transmission coefficient S11.
The decreasing in the resonance frequency in S21 matched
with the results in [6]. Furthermore, our study presents the
effect of the change in gap angle on the magnitude of S11 and
showing the change in the electric field distribution. Further,
change in position of the gap 𝜃3 =60°, the resonance
frequency for S21 and the magnitude of S11 also decrease
without a change in the position or the value of the resonance
frequency. Figs. 15,16 show the decrements in the magnitude
of S11 and the decreasing with the orientation of the gap. The
figs.16,20 showing the matching between the results vs the
different orientation.
Fig. 14. The electric field distribution with the maximum electric field value
according to the gap angle 𝜃2 = 30° is around 2.2 KV/m.
Fig. 15. The influence of the change in S-parameters according to the gap
angle 𝜃2 =30°. The magnitude of S11 decreases with the change in 𝜃2.
Fig. 16. The electric field distribution with the maximum electric field value
according to the gap angle 𝜃3 = 60° is around 1.65 KV/m.
 2019 IEEE Ninth International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems (ICICIS)

Fig. 17. The influence of the change in S-parameters according to the gap Fig. 22. The electric field distribution with the maximum electric field value
angle 𝜃3 =60°. The increment in the gap angle position leads to according to the gap angle 𝜃6 = 150° is around 2.2 KV/m. The
decrease the magnitude of S11 with 𝜃3 = 60°. distribution of the electric field more matched with the distribution of
the electric field of 𝜃2 =30°.

Fig. 18. The electric field distribution with the maximum electric field value
according to the gap angle 𝜃4 = 90° is around 0.6 KV/m.
Fig. 23. The influence of the change in S-parameters according to the gap
angle 𝜃6 = 150°. S11 and S21 coefficients more matched with the 𝜃2
=30° results.

Fig. 19. The influence of the change in S-parameters according to the gap
angle 𝜃4 = 90°.

Fig. 24. The electric field distribution with the maximum electric field value
according to the gap angle 𝜃5 = 120° is around 2.5 KV/m. The
distribution of the electric field more matched with the distribution of
the electric field of 𝜃1 = 0°. But the increment in the electric field is
notable as a difference between two cases.

Fig. 20. The electric field distribution with the maximum electric field value
according to the gap angle 𝜃5 = 120° is around 1.65 KV/m.

Fig. 25. The influence of the change in S-parameters according to the gap
angle 𝜃7 = 180°. S11 and S21 coefficients more matched with the 𝜃 =
0° results.

Fig. 21. The influence of the change in S-parameters according to the gap
angle 𝜃5 = 120°. S11 and S21 coefficients more matched with the 𝜃3
=60° results.

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 2019 IEEE Ninth International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems (ICICIS)

B. Two arcs with two narrow symmetric gaps.
The new case study shows the effect of ASRR with two
symmetric arcs. The selected geometry consists of two
distinct and opposite single arcs with 1 mm thickness and
separated by two identical narrow 1 mm gap width. The first
gap orientation at 𝜃1 =0°, and the second gap at 𝜃7 =180°.
Resonator-Based Sensor for Thin-Film Detection and Permittivity
Characterization", IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 16, no. 10, pp. 3587-3596,
2016.
[4] A. Salim and S. Lim, "Review of Recent Metamaterial Microfluidic
Sensors", Sensors, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 232, 2018.
[5] G. Amendola, G. Angiulli, E. Arnieri and L. Boccia, "Computation of
The Resonant Frequency and Quality Factor of Lossy Substrate
Integrated Waveguide Resonators By Method Of Moments", Progress In
Electromagnetics Research Letters, vol. 40, pp. 107-117, 2013.

[6] C. Soemphol, P. Thitimahatthanagusol, E. Khoomwong and M. Kupimai,

"Q-factor control in asymmetry single circular split ring resonator via
positon of gap", 2017 International Electrical Engineering Congress
(iEECON), 2017.

[7] F. Caspers, "RF engineering basic concepts: S-parameters", Proceedings,

Fig. 26. The electric field distribution with the maximum electric field value
around 0.145 KV/m for a special case of ASRR getting by two
symmetric arcs with two opposite angles for the gap orientation. The
results show further decrements in the magnitude of the electric field.
CAS - CERN Accelerator School: RF for Accelerators, pp. 67-93, 2012.
[8] J. Pastor, "Sensitivity Analysis of Single Split Ring Resonators and
Single Complementary Split Ring Resonators coupled to Planar
Transmission Lines", B.Sc. thesis, 2017.

[9] M. Fei, S. Ma, X. Li, X. Sun, L. Jia and Z. Su, “Advances Computational
Methods In Life System Modeling And Simulation”, SPRINGER
VERLAG, SINGAPOR, 2017.

[10] B. Lahiri, A. Khokhar, R. De La Rue, S. McMeekin and N. Johnson,

"Asymmetric split ring resonators for optical sensing of organic
materials", Optics Express, vol. 17, no. 2, p. 1107, 2009.

Fig. 27. The influence of the change in S-parameters for a special case of
ASRR getting by two symmetric arcs with two opposite angles for the
gap orientation.

VII. CONCLUSION AND REMARK

In this paper, the impact of the change the sensor geometry in
the different parameters such as the resonance frequency and
the electric field is presented and simulated. The simulation
results shown the control of the S-parameters using the small
change in the design parameters. The results extracted the
different important relation between the resonance frequency
and differential geometry. Also, the change in gap position in
ASRR and its effect on the resonance frequency was studied.
The resonance frequency affected by the gap position based
on the direction of the electric field. This technique can be
used to enhance the quality of the filter and metamaterials
sensor. Also, it used for different applications which need a
high sensitivity to differ among the materials having the same
resonance in the traditional microwave sensor. The results
can be used as a reference for the microwave sensor design.
The future work of this study will be showing the effect of
these different microwave sensor structures in the biological
applications.
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[2] J. Yeo and J. Lee, "High-Sensitivity Microwave Sensor Based on An

Interdigital-Capacitor-Shaped Defected Ground Structure for
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[3] G. Galindo-Romera, F. Javier Herraiz-Martinez, M. Gil, J. Martinez-

Martinez and D. Segovia-Vargas, "Submersible Printed Split-Ring

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