Development of Automated Multi-electrode Resistivity System for Laboratory Measurements

Summary Automated multi-electrode resistivity systems have triggered rapid and efficient data acquisition of resistivity measurements to address a wide range of applications. This study describes development of an automated multielectrode resistivity system for laboratory measurements. A flexible data acquisition and control software automatically switches electrodes interchangeably. The system has been tested with 16 electrodes but is expandable to larger arrays. The user can remotely control the power source, set the desired current and voltage and multiplex the electrodes to collect resistivity data using different electrode arrangments in a stacking procedure. The system has been tested using a wide range of high precision reference resistors, and the results have been correlated with those acquired with a commercial resistivity system. The laboratory testing demonstrates repeatability, resolution and accuracy of the collected data.