ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Development of a Microwave Metamaterial Sensor for Future Non-Invasive Glucose Detection
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These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2025-11-27
Final revision date: 2026-03-21
Acceptance date: 2026-05-03
Publication date: 2026-09-07
Journal of Undergraduate Research International 2026;2(2):27-33
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ABSTRACT
Diabetes is a chronic disease requiring frequent monitoring. However, traditional methods are invasive and can cause discomfort.
Although prior studies have focused on various microwave and metamaterial geometries in noninvasive sensor applications, they
exhibit multiple limitations, including the need for large sample volumes and complex fabrication processes. In this study, a noninvasive
microwave sensor was designed, fabricated, and evaluated for fingertip glucose detection. The proposed sensor comprises a single-metal-layer coplanar waveguide with four nested split-ring resonators on an FR4 substrate to enhance electric field confinement and maximize the interaction with biological samples. Experimental validation was performed using a Vector Network Analyzer with various concentrations of glucose samples ranging from 100 to 400 mg/dL. The sensor exhibited a general structural resonance near 4.18 GHz, whereas distilled water measurements exhibited a resonance at 3.584 GHz, which shifted with increasing glucose concentration, yielding a sensitivity of approximately 36.4 kHz/(mg /dL). These findings highlight the potential of the compact microwave metamaterial sensor as a foundation for real-time glucose-monitoring systems.