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Electromagnetic Sensors and Their Applications
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Electromagnetic Sensors and Their Applications

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 October 2026 | Viewed by 7367

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shiquan Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639956, Singapore
Interests: advanced electromagnetic sensors; microwave metamaterials; beam-scanning antennas; sub-THz devices
Prof. Dr. Kwok L. Chung

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Intelligent Manufacturing and Electrical Engineering, Guangzhou Institute of Science and Technology, Guangzhou 510091, China
Interests: passive wireless sensors; cement-based materials fabrication and characterization; clothing antennas; reconfigurable intelligent surfaces

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Electromagnetic (EM) sensors are integral to modern sensing technologies, offering continuous, non-contact, and real-time detection across diverse applications. By leveraging electromagnetic fields, these sensors enable the precise measurement of physical properties such as permittivity, permeability, conductivity, and impedance. Their versatility makes them indispensable in fields such as industrial automation, biomedical diagnostics, structural health monitoring, and geophysical exploration. Recent advancements in materials science, manufacturing processes, and signal processing techniques have significantly improved the sensitivity, resolution, and robustness of EM sensors. These developments have paved the way for emerging applications in smart wearables, IoT-based remote sensing, and next-generation communication systems. This Special Issue aims to showcase cutting-edge research on the design, modeling, fabrication, and application of EM We welcome contributions on novel EM sensor designs, emerging metamaterials, AI-driven enhancements for EM sensors, and innovative applications for EM sensing across diverse fields. By bringing together experts from academia and industry, this issue seeks to advance EM sensing technologies and foster interdisciplinary applications.

Dr. Shiquan Wang
Prof. Dr. Kwok L. Chung
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • electromagnetic sensors
  • metamaterial-enhanced sensors
  • AI-driven sensor design
  • non-contact sensing
  • IoT-based sensing
  • integrated sensing and communication
  • biomedical and industrial applications

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 6862 KB  
Article
A Novel Water-Cut Sensing Method for a Multiphase-Flow Pipeline Using a Ridged-Horn Antenna
by Gaoyang Zhu, Junlin Feng, Yunjun Zhang, Xinhua Sun, Shucheng Liang, Bin Wang and Muzhi Gao
Sensors 2026, 26(8), 2466; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26082466 - 16 Apr 2026
Viewed by 526
Abstract
As oil and gas reservoirs progress into the mid-to-late stages of development, produced fluids increasingly exhibit high water-cut and complex flow regimes. Conventional water-cut measurement techniques based on capacitance, conductance, and resistance often face challenges in terms of accuracy, stability, and adaptability. In [...] Read more.
As oil and gas reservoirs progress into the mid-to-late stages of development, produced fluids increasingly exhibit high water-cut and complex flow regimes. Conventional water-cut measurement techniques based on capacitance, conductance, and resistance often face challenges in terms of accuracy, stability, and adaptability. In this study, a novel non-contact broadband microwave system, based on a ridged-horn antenna microwave transmission sensor (RHAMTS), is proposed to achieve highly sensitive full-range (0–100%) water-cut monitoring. The RHAMTS consists of two identical ridged-horn antennas, whose geometries are optimized through analytical design calculations and full-wave finite-element simulations. Numerical simulations are first performed to elucidate the sensing mechanism. Subsequently, static and dynamic experiments are conducted under two representative conditions: emulsified oil-water mixtures and stratified oil-water layers. The results indicate that the broadband spectral signatures of the RHAMTS can effectively characterize water-cut in both emulsified mixtures and stratified oil-water layers. For emulsified mixtures, both amplitude attenuation and phase shift vary systematically with water-cut, and the RHAMTS can still effectively characterize water-cut under saline conditions. For stratified oil-water flow, results from both static and dynamic experiments demonstrate that amplitude attenuation provides more robust features for practical water-cut discrimination. Compared with conventional methods, the proposed RHAMTS offers non-contact operation, rich spectral information, and compatibility with various flow regimes, providing a feasible and efficient approach for water-cut monitoring under complex field conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Sensors and Their Applications)
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16 pages, 6191 KB  
Article
A Hybrid Millimeter-Wave Radar–Ultrasonic Fusion System for Robust Human Activity Recognition with Attention-Enhanced Deep Learning
by Liping Yao, Kwok L. Chung, Luxin Tang, Tao Ye, Shiquan Wang, Pingchuan Xu, Yuhao Bi and Yaowen Wu
Sensors 2026, 26(3), 1057; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26031057 - 6 Feb 2026
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 780
Abstract
To address the tradeoff between environmental robustness and fine-grained accuracy in single-sensor human behavior recognition, this paper proposes a non-contact system fusing 77 GHz SIFT (mmWave) radar and a 40 kHz ultrasonic array. The system leverages radar’s long-range penetration and low-visibility adaptability, paired [...] Read more.
To address the tradeoff between environmental robustness and fine-grained accuracy in single-sensor human behavior recognition, this paper proposes a non-contact system fusing 77 GHz SIFT (mmWave) radar and a 40 kHz ultrasonic array. The system leverages radar’s long-range penetration and low-visibility adaptability, paired with ultrasound’s centimeter-level short-range precision and electromagnetic clutter immunity. A synchronized data acquisition platform ensures multi-modal signal consistency, while wavelet transform (for radar) and STFT (for ultrasound) extract complementary time–frequency features. The proposed Attention-CNN-BiLSTM architecture integrates local spatial feature extraction, bidirectional temporal dependency modeling, and salient cue enhancement. Experimental results on 1600 synchronized sequences (four behaviors: standing, sitting, walking, falling) show a 98.6% mean class accuracy with subject-wise generalization, outperforming single-sensor baselines and traditional deep learning models. As a privacy-preserving, lighting-agnostic solution, it offers promising applications in smart homes, healthcare monitoring, and intelligent surveillance, providing a robust technical foundation for contactless behavior recognition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Sensors and Their Applications)
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23 pages, 4854 KB  
Article
Additively Manufactured Mechanically Tunable Cavity Resonator for Broadband Characterization of Liquid Permittivity
by Thipamas Phakaew, Thet Pai Oo, Muhammad Uzair, Pruet Kowitwarangkul, Piyapat Chuchuay, Rungsima Yeetsorn, Danai Torrungrueng, Nonchanutt Chudpooti and Suramate Chalermwisutkul
Sensors 2025, 25(23), 7145; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25237145 - 22 Nov 2025
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1923
Abstract
This paper presents the design, fabrication, and experimental validation of a metal 3D-printed mechanically tunable cavity resonator operating in the hybrid TM–coaxial resonant mode for the broadband characterization of liquid permittivity. The proposed structure was developed based on a cylindrical cavity by incorporating [...] Read more.
This paper presents the design, fabrication, and experimental validation of a metal 3D-printed mechanically tunable cavity resonator operating in the hybrid TM–coaxial resonant mode for the broadband characterization of liquid permittivity. The proposed structure was developed based on a cylindrical cavity by incorporating a disc-terminated metallic tuning stub, which enables continuous frequency adjustment from 0.5 GHz to 3.0 GHz while maintaining a maximum unloaded Q-factor of 284 at 1 GHz under air-filled conditions. The tuning mechanism allows for precise frequency selection for characterizing materials exhibiting frequency-dependent permittivity. To demonstrate its sensing capability, the resonator was applied to characterize ethanol–water mixtures, where resonant frequency shifts were correlated with ethanol concentration at representative baseline frequencies of 1.00 GHz, 2.00 GHz, and 2.94 GHz. The sensor achieved frequency/dielectric constant resolutions of 0.39, 1.34, and 4.20 MHz and average concentration errors of 1.25%, 3.73%, and 2.49%, respectively. Moreover, polynomial fitting models enabled the accurate extraction of dielectric constants with an average deviation below 0.5% compared with a commercial dielectric probe system. The combination of frequency tunability, compact geometry, and compatibility with additive manufacturing establishes the proposed cavity resonator as a versatile platform for broadband dielectric spectroscopy, chemical sensing, and liquid characterization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Sensors and Their Applications)
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19 pages, 2299 KB  
Article
Capacitance Characteristics of Glass-Embedded Interdigitated Capacitors for Touch Sensing Applications
by Apichart Kaewcharoen, Kirote Arpanutud, Prayoot Akkaraekthalin, Phongsaphak Sittimart and Suramate Chalermwisutkul
Sensors 2025, 25(22), 6941; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25226941 - 13 Nov 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1534
Abstract
This paper investigates the capacitance characteristics of a glass-embedded interdigitated capacitive sensor (IDCS) for touch-sensing applications. The study analyzes both baseline (no-touch) and touch-induced capacitance variations through a combination of analytical modeling and experimental validation. A multilayer analytical model is first employed to [...] Read more.
This paper investigates the capacitance characteristics of a glass-embedded interdigitated capacitive sensor (IDCS) for touch-sensing applications. The study analyzes both baseline (no-touch) and touch-induced capacitance variations through a combination of analytical modeling and experimental validation. A multilayer analytical model is first employed to calculate the baseline capacitance of the proposed structure, followed by experimental measurements for model verification. Subsequently, an equivalent circuit model of the touched state is introduced to represent the interaction between the human fingertip, sensor electrodes, and earth-ground, explaining the observed capacitance reduction during a finger touch. Sensor prototypes with electrode finger widths of 1.4, 2.0, 2.4, and 3.0 mm were fabricated within a 40 × 40 mm2 sensing area. The baseline capacitance decreased from 28.6 pF at 1.4 mm to 12 pF at 3.0 mm electrode finger width, while the capacitance change upon touch ranged from 0.6–0.9 pF. Touch sensitivity for three test persons increased from about 1.7–4.6% at 1.4 mm to 5–7.6% at 3.0 mm electrode finger width. The results confirm that narrower-electrode designs yield higher absolute capacitance, whereas wider electrodes enhance touch sensitivity and provide greater uniformity within the defined sensing area. Overall, the findings validate the proposed IDCS configuration as a practical approach for realizing glass-integrated touch sensors and offer practical guidelines for optimizing electrode geometry in touch-based smart-glass applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Sensors and Their Applications)
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16 pages, 3034 KB  
Article
High-Efficiency Electromagnetic Translational–Rotary Harvester for Human Motion Impact Energy
by Shuxian Wang, Shiyou Liu and Zhiyi Wu
Sensors 2025, 25(11), 3453; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25113453 - 30 May 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1582
Abstract
This paper presents an electromagnetic translational–rotary motion impact energy harvester based on a magnetic cylinder rotated around a fixed magnetic ring. It is beneficial for capturing impact energy generated by natural human motions, such as clapping, boxing, and stomping. The energy harvester consists [...] Read more.
This paper presents an electromagnetic translational–rotary motion impact energy harvester based on a magnetic cylinder rotated around a fixed magnetic ring. It is beneficial for capturing impact energy generated by natural human motions, such as clapping, boxing, and stomping. The energy harvester consists of a circular housing, twelve coils, a magnetic cylinder, and a magnetic ring. Once activated, the magnetic cylinder revolves and rotates around the magnetic ring, inducing a significantly large electromotive force across the twelve coils. According to Faraday’s law, the output voltage generated by the coils is proportional to the turns, enabling the efficient harvesting of biomechanical waste energy. Moreover, the energy harvester can convert translational motion from any orientation into a multi-circle rotational motion of the low-damping magnetic cylinder, which passes through twelve coils and applies a variable magnetic field across them. During a single excitation event, the prototype harvester was able to charge a 470 μF, 25 V capacitor to over 0.81 V in just 39.5 ms. The energy output and effective average power were calculated to exceed 0.15 mJ and 3.80 mW, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Sensors and Their Applications)
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