Digital Transmission Concepts for Underground Communications UsingMagnetic Induction

• Applicant: Professor Wolfgang Gerstacker
• Subject Area: Electronic Semiconductors, Components and Circuits, Integrated Systems, Sensor Technology, Theoretical Electrical Engineering
• Term: from 2011 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 188424568

The objective of Wireless Underground Sensor Networks (WUSNs) is to establish an efficient wireless communication in the underground medium. A magnetic induction (MI) based signal transmission scheme has been proposed to overcome the very harsh propagation conditions in WUSNs. Due to a much lower vulnerability to the environmental changes, the MI technique has been shown to improve the system performance in terms of achievable data rates and coverage compared to the traditional electromagnetic (EM) wave based transmission. In the previous works, the first steps in network optimization and design of signal processing algorithms for MI-WUSNs have been made. Typically, the proposed approaches aim at increasing the achievable data rates for point-to-point transmissions and the theoretical throughput of a network with multiple sensor nodes, respectively. In this part of the project, the performance of the digital transmission will be further improved by introducing multiple coils based transceivers. This approach is motivated by the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems in RF communications using multiple antennas, which enable high diversity and multiplexing gains. Furthermore, for operating with sufficient energy in the underground medium with limited access to the surface, sensor nodes need to harvest energy and support each other by means of wireless power transfer, which will be investigated as well. An important task of wireless sensor networks is the localization of persons and objects. In order to enable this functionality in MI-WUSNs and to provide a sufficient level of accuracy, novel localization algorithms will be developed, which take into account the typical signal propagation characteristics of MI-WUSNs.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants