<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; layout-grid-mode: char;" align="left"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: ";Verdana";,";sans-serif";; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In order to improve the communication range of Through-The-Earth (TTE) radio using electrodes, the impedance load seen by power stage load must be minimized. This impedance depends on the wires, the electrode contact and the path between the electrodes (earth). Of the three elements, we cannot influence the earth impedance. The wire impedance can be minimized employing short cables and avoiding coiling them. This paper presents a method for characterizing the electrode contact impedance and provides suggestions to minimize it. Therefore some impedance measurements with several electrodes and a variety of contact conditions have been performed in order to improve our knowledge of medium access. To further prove the results measurements have been made with a voice radio application.</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"></span></p>
[1] Through-the-earth (TTE) communications are relevant in applications such as caving, tunnel and cave rescue, mining, and subsurface radiolocation. The majority of the TTE communication systems use ground electrodes as load antenna. Wires, electrode contact, and earth impedances are the major contributors to the impedance observed by the transmitter. In this paper, state-of-art models found in the literature are reviewed, and an improved method to measure the earth impedance is presented. The paper also proposes an optimal circuit model for earth impedance between electrodes as a function of frequency, as a consequence of the particular conditions of the application. The model is validated with measurements for different soil conditions, showing a good agreement between empirical data and the simulation results.
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