Piezoelectric radiofrequency transducers as passive buried sensors

We demonstrate that single-piezoelectric substrate-based acoustic transducers act as ideal sensors for probing with various RADAR strategies. Because these sensors are intrinsically passive devices working in the radiofrequency range, they exhibit improved interrogation range and robustness with respect to silicon-based radio frequency identification tags. Both wideband (acoustic delay lines) and narrowband (acoustic resonators) transducers are shown to be compatible with pulse-mode and frequency-modulated continuous-wave RADAR strategies, respectively. We particularly focus on the ground-penetrating RADAR (GPR) application in which the lack of local energy source makes these sensors suitable candidates for buried applications in roads, building or civil engineering monitoring. A novel acoustic sensor concept – high-overtone bulk acoustic resonator – is especially suited as sensor interrogated by a wide range of antenna set, as demonstrated with GPR units working in the 100 and 200 MHz range.