Masters Theses

Abstract

Civil infrastructure inspection quality and inspector safety may be enhanced from the advancement in the capabilities of nondestructive testing and evaluation of remote or otherwise hard-to-reach areas such as nuclear power plants, wind turbines, bridges, or other civil infrastructure using drone-based Active Microwave Thermography (AMT). AMT is a nondestructive testing technique that utilizes high frequency energy (often radiated from an antenna) to induce heating in a specimen. Following this thermal excitation, an infrared camera is used to measure the resulting surface thermal profile. From this, defect indications may be detected. To enable drone-based deployment of AMT, where the antenna size and mass are critical constraints, a novel slot antenna is developed. The design evolved from an initial effort to miniaturize a microstrip patch antenna (MPA) using a defected ground structure (DGS). While this approach yielded a 97.8% reduction in patch area, it was observed that the DGS slot itself became the primary radiating aperture. This key finding led to the complete elimination of the patch. The final design is a novel antenna where the DGS slot is fed directly by a co-planar waveguide (CPW), resulting in a 100% reduction in patch mass and volume while preserving radiative performance, offering an optimal solution (in terms of size and mass) for UAV-based active microwave thermography.

Advisor(s)

Donnell, Kristen M.

Committee Member(s)

Beetner, Daryl G.
Jiang, Lijun

Department(s)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Electrical Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Fall 2025

Journal article titles appearing in thesis/dissertation

Paper I, found on pages 12–39, is under review for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

Pagination

x, 44 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes_bibliographical_references_(pages 42-43)

Rights

© 2026 Alec P. Fitzmaurice , All Rights Reserved

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 12565

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