Mobile data harvesting in wireless underground sensor networks

2016 25th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN)

2016

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Abstract-Unique interactions between soil and communication components in wireless underground communications necessitate revisiting fundamental communication concepts from a different perspective. In this paper, capacity profile of wireless underground (UG) channel for multi-carrier transmission techniques is analyzed based on empirical antenna return loss and channel frequency response models in different soil types and moisture values. It is shown that data rates in excess of 124 Mbps are possible for distances up to 12 m. For shorter distances and lower soil moisture conditions, data rates of 362 Mbps can be achieved. It is also shown that due to soil moisture variations, UG channel experiences significant variations in antenna bandwidth and coherence bandwidth, which demands dynamic subcarrier operation. Theoretical analysis based on this empirical data show that by adaption to soil moisture variations, 180% improvement in channel capacity is possible when soil moisture decreases. It is shown that compared to a fixed bandwidth system; soilbased, system and sub-carrier bandwidth adaptation leads to capacity gains of 56%-136%. The analysis is based on indoor and outdoor experiments with more than 1, 500 measurements taken over a period of 10 months. These semi-empirical capacity results provide further evidence on the potential of underground channel as a viable media for high data rate communication and highlight potential improvements in this area.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Soil Type and Moisture on the Capacity of Multi-Carrier Modulation in Internet of Underground Things

Salam

2016 25th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN)

2016

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“…It can be observed that the generated power is on the order of communication power, which constitutes the majority of the energy consumption for WUSNs [23]. Accordingly, for low data-rate applications, vibration energy harvesting can provide sustainable underground operation.…”

Section: Experiments Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Depending on the application, WUSN devices should have a lifetime of at least several years to make their deployment cost-efficient [23]. Despite the ongoing improvements and conservations made by utilizing energyefficient hardware and communication protocols, the power consumption due to communicating through the soil is still significant.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vibration energy harvesting for wireless underground sensor networks

Kahrobaee

2013 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC)

2013

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Abstract-Recent developments in wireless underground communication have enabled the realization of underground sensor network applications. To this end, it is desirable to provide a sustainable operation for wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) with extended lifetimes as maintenance is significantly costly. One promising method towards sustainable operation is to harvest energy underground based on the vibration sources in the environment. However, to the best of our knowledge, underground vibration energy harvesting has not been investigated before. In this paper, the feasibility of vibration energy harvesting for WUSNs is investigated. First, an analytical framework is developed to model the maximum harvestable power by a piezoelectric energy harvester at a certain depth underground, due to an aboveground vibration source. Then, field experiments are conducted to measure the vibration in an agricultural testbed and evaluated the harvestable output power. The results from this study illustrate the feasibility of vibration energy harvesting as a promising approach to be considered for the future underground sensor networks.

“…However, variations in the communication channel are not considered in [18], which is a major challenge for wireless underground communication. For underground communication, we also empirically investigated these two error control schemes [16], where the impacts of burial depth, packet size and soil moisture on packet error rate are analyzed. However, adaptive FEC codes as well as transmit power control have not been considered for WUSNs yet.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, our testbed experiments show that underground communications suffer from high packet error rates. The impacts of burial depth, packet size, and soil moisture on packet error rate are illustrated in [16]. Therefore, error control schemes need to be adopted to overcome high packet error rates, especially at long distances (50 −80 m) and essentially, improve the feasibility of WUSN applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploiting soil moisture information for adaptive error control in wireless underground sensor networks

Dong

2013 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM)

2013

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Abstract-Wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) have recently been investigated for a wide range of applications. One challenge in wireless underground communications is its high bit error rate, especially at long distances. In WUSNs, the communication quality is substantially affected by the environment, especially the soil moisture. Thus, the underground channel quality can be effectively estimated based on local soil moisture readings. By utilizing the local soil moisture values to estimate the channel quality, adaptive error control mechanisms can be implemented for underground nodes. In this paper, two error control mechanisms, adaptive-rate forward error control and adaptive transmit power control, are considered for WUSNs. The results indicate that compared to ARQ, adaptive FEC code can increase the ranges of soil moisture values within which the network is reliable by reducing the bit error rate. In addition, adaptive transmit power control can improve energy efficiency when a wide range of transmit power levels is available. Our evaluations show that to achieve 60 m communication distance in practical soil settings, the output power of the transmitter should to be adjusted in a range of 0 dBm to 25 dBm to improve the energy efficiency of the underground nodes.