Electromagnetic Modelling for Non-Destructive Diagnostics of Olive Trees

Diagnostic approaches for assessing the health status of plants and trees by using microwave-based methods are attracting an increasing interest in the research community. Clearly, in the development of such approaches, a key role is played by the electromagnetic modelling and the related characterization of the involved materials. In this framework, this paper focuses on the dielectric characterization of samples extracted from the internal part of olive trees. As a first step, the relative dielectric permittivity and the equivalent electric conductivity of samples taken from a branch of a healthy olive tree have been measured with a short-circuited coaxial line at frequencies between 0.5 GHz and 2.5 GHz. To further characterize the samples from the physical chemical point of view, their moisture and ashes content has been assessed.