Soil Medium Electromagnetic Scattering Model for the Study of Wireless Underground Sensor Networks

Abstract

In recent years, there has been keen interest in the area of Internet of Things connected underground, and with this is the need to fully understand and characterize their operating environment. In this paper, a model, based on the Peplinski principle, for the propagation of waves in soils that takes into account losses attributable to the presence of local inhomogeneity is proposed. In the work, it is assumed that the inhomogeneities are obstacles such as stones or pebbles, of moderate size, all identical and randomly distributed in space. A new wave number is obtained through a combination of the multiple scattering theory and the Peplinski principle. Since the latter principle considers the propagation in a homogeneous medium (without obstacles), the wave number it provides is inserted into the one resulting from the former, the multiple scattering theory. The effective wave number thus obtained is compared numerically with that of Peplinski alone on the one hand and with that of multiple scattering alone on the other hand. The phase velocity and the loss tangent are analyzed against the particle concentration at the low-frequency Rayleigh limit condition ( k a ≲ 0.1 ) and against the frequency at two particle concentrations ( c = 0.2 and c = 0.4 ), two particle radii ( a = 0.55 cm and a = 1.10 cm), and 5% and 50% volumetric water content of the soil. Path losses are also compared to each other to examine the effects on transmission of soil containing obstacles. The results obtained suggest that the proposed model has better accuracy in estimating the wave number than previously used schemes.

Magnetic Induction Technology-Based Wireless Sensor Network for Underground Infrastructure, Monitoring Soil Conditions, and Environmental Observation Applications: Challenges and Future Aspects

“…Therefore, in this section, such developments are covered one by one to have a good idea about the relevant approach and system aspects, which could be incorporated in MIbased WUSNs in time to come. Figure 2 shows that the model is envisaged using Internet of underground things for providing total autonomy to agriculture activities [20]. This enables self-reporting of soil moisture, salinity, and temperature and hence ensures in situ monitoring of soil.…”

Signal Propagation in Soil Medium: A Two Dimensional Finite Element Procedure

“…In [16], a new wave number model is proposed with the combination of the Peplinski principle and multiple scattering from particles in the soil medium. The new wave number is used in the computation of the path loss.…”

Signal Propagation Models in Soil Medium for the Study of Wireless Underground Sensor Networks: A Review of Current Trends

“…In [27], a new wave number model is proposed using the combination of the Peplinski principle and multiple scattering in soil medium. The new wave number is used in the computation of the path loss.…”