A Way to Improve the Accuracy of Displacement Measurement by a Two-Probe Implementation of Microwave Interferometry

This paper addresses the possibility of displacement measurement by microwave interferometry at an unknown reflection coefficient with the use of as few as two probes. The case of an arbitrary interpobe distance is considered. The measurement error as a function of the interprobe distance is analyzed with the inclusion of variations of the detector currents from their theoretical values. The analysis has shown that as the interprobe distance decreases, the maximum measurement error passes through a minimum for reflection coefficients close to unity and increases monotonically for smaller reflection coefficients. Based on the results of the analysis, the interprobe distance is suggested to be one tenth of the guided operating wavelength . In comparison with the conventional interprobe distance of /8, the suggested one offers a marked reduction in the maximum measurement error for reflection coefficients close to unity, while for smaller ones this error remains much the same (for a detector current error of 3%, the maximum measurement error in percent of the operating wavelength is 2.2% and 1.0% at /10 as against 4.8% and 2.7% at /8 for a reflection coefficient of 1 and 0.9, respectively, and 2.9% at /10 as against 2.4% at /8 for a reflection coefficient of 0.1).