Towards Underwater Detection of Diluted Bitumen with Interdigital Sensors

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bedenik, Graziella, Greeff, Melissa, Robertson, Matthew
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909692366684160
author Bedenik, Graziella
Greeff, Melissa
Robertson, Matthew
author_facet Bedenik, Graziella
Greeff, Melissa
Robertson, Matthew
contents Diluted bitumen spills in freshwater environments pose significant challenges for detection and remediation due to the complex behaviour of the material once released, rendering traditional oil monitoring techniques, such as aerial surveys and fluorometry, ineffective. This study investigates the feasibility of utilizing interdigital capacitive sensors to detect dilbit in water via frequency-dependent impedance measurements. Three sensor designs were fabricated and tested with a vector network analyzer across samples with varying dilbit concentrations. All sensor designs detected electrical changes, exhibiting linear regions and strong potential for quantitative sensing. These findings support the integration of the sensors into autonomous underwater robotic platforms for real-time, distributed monitoring of dilbit spills in freshwater systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_03781
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Towards Underwater Detection of Diluted Bitumen with Interdigital Sensors
Bedenik, Graziella
Greeff, Melissa
Robertson, Matthew
Instrumentation and Detectors
Diluted bitumen spills in freshwater environments pose significant challenges for detection and remediation due to the complex behaviour of the material once released, rendering traditional oil monitoring techniques, such as aerial surveys and fluorometry, ineffective. This study investigates the feasibility of utilizing interdigital capacitive sensors to detect dilbit in water via frequency-dependent impedance measurements. Three sensor designs were fabricated and tested with a vector network analyzer across samples with varying dilbit concentrations. All sensor designs detected electrical changes, exhibiting linear regions and strong potential for quantitative sensing. These findings support the integration of the sensors into autonomous underwater robotic platforms for real-time, distributed monitoring of dilbit spills in freshwater systems.
title Towards Underwater Detection of Diluted Bitumen with Interdigital Sensors
topic Instrumentation and Detectors
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.03781