Patent ID: 7928360

Claim:
A material property gauge for determining a property of a material, the material property gauge comprising: (a) a nuclear density gauge for measuring the density of a material, the nuclear density gauge comprising: a radiation source adapted to emit radiation into the material; a radiation detector operable to produce a signal representing the detected radiation; and a first material property calculation function configured to calculate a value associated with the density of the material based upon the signal produced by the radiation detector; (b) an electromagnetic moisture property gauge for determining a moisture property of the material, the electromagnetic moisture property gauge comprising: an electromagnetic field generator configured to generate an electromagnetic field including sweeping through two or more frequencies and penetrating into a material, wherein the material includes at least one of a pavement material and a soil material, wherein the electromagnetic field generator is configured to generate an electromagnetic field including a plurality of frequencies selected to obtain a complete characterization of a relaxation phenomenon of the material; a sensor configured to determine a frequency response of the material to the electromagnetic field across the two or more frequencies; and a second material property calculation function configured to correlate the frequency response to a moisture property of the material and to calculate a value representing the moisture property; and (c) a third material property calculation function for determining a material property of the material based on the value associated with the density of the material and the value representing the moisture property of the material.