Effectiveness of Electrostatic Shielding in High-Frequency Electromagnetic Induction Soil Sensing

High-frequency electromagnetic induction (HFEMI) sensors, operating in the frequency range from 300 kHz to 30 MHz, have been proposed for the measurement of soil electrical conductivity and dielectric permittivity that are related to the physical and chemical properties of soil. Because of the high-frequency operation, the capacitive coupling between the sensor transmitter and receiver coils is comparable to inductive coupling, creating the need for electrostatic shielding. The remnant capacitive coupling after the implementation of shielding can lead to significant difficulties in the sensor signal interpretation, because both coupling mechanisms are highly dependent on the geometry of the HFEMI sensor and applied shield. In this paper, we introduce the discussion on the relationship between the sensor geometry, shielding and the coupling mechanisms for HFEMI soil sensing. We theoretically and experimentally evaluate a typical HFEMI sensor and its shielding in the frequency range of up to 20 MHz and propose a method for evaluating the effectiveness of a shield configuration. In the case study, we experimentally analyze the HFEMI sensor above a saline solution for two shield configurations. The results agree well with the results of a finite element method analysis.