Material detection and analysis using a dielectric waveguide

A system comprising a sensor, wherein the sensor comprises:

• a sub-terahertz radio frequency (RF) transmitter with an output;
• a sub-terahertz RF receiver with an input;
• a dielectric waveguide (DWG) having at least a solid dielectric core coupled between the output of the transmitter and the input of the receiver;
• control logic coupled to the receiver, wherein the control logic is coupled to a database that contains a data structure that correlates a propagation characteristic of a signal received by the receiver to a composition of a material surrounding at least a portion of the DWG.

A method of detecting a material, the method comprising:

• transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal through at least a solid dielectric core of a dielectric waveguide (DWG);
• receiving the RF signal after it passes through at least the solid dielectric core;
• determining insertion loss of at least the solid dielectric core;
• and
• determining a composition of the material based on a correlation to the insertion loss value.