Long-Range Telemetry for Mobile Transmitters

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Jörg Robert
• Subject Area: Electronic Semiconductors, Components and Circuits, Integrated Systems, Sensor Technology, Theoretical Electrical Engineering
• Term: from 2012 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 167288317

The biologists have the wish for a continuous monitoring of the bats, also far outside the localization area. The main contribution of this sub-project is therefore the development of a robust physical layer for the long-range telemetry in unlicensed frequency bands. This physical layer shall allow for the energy efficient transmission of data from the bats to the ground network over long distances. Compared to the first phase of the BATS project, the maximum range of the transmission shall be at least increased by a factor of 10. Furthermore, also the energy efficiency shall be significantly increased. This goal shall be reached by means of new transmit algorithms, an optimized ground network with multi-antenna reception, and an adaptive optimization of the transmission parameters. The scientific contribution comes from different levels that have to be dealt with in this sub-project. First, powerful channel models for the bat's habitat are required. Using these models, a new physical layer has to be developed that takes into consideration the capabilities of the transmitters mounted on the bats. A special focus is on the adaptive adjustment of the transmission parameters according to the channel conditions. This adaptability is required to transmit the signals with maximum energy efficiency. Due to the use of unlicensed frequency bands, there the additional challenge of interference coming from other frequency users, which has to be taken into account for the development of robust algorithms. Due to the complexity of the whole project the work will be performed in close cooperation with the other sub-projects (TP). This is in particular TP 4 (communication), for which this sub-project will design the physical layer. Additionally, close cooperation is planned with TP 5 (localization) and TP 7/8 (hardware). This cooperation mainly focused on an optimized waveform that takes into consideration the hardware capabilities.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 1508: Dynamically Adaptable Positioning of Bats Using Embedded Communicating Sensor Systems
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr.-Ing. Albert Heuberger; Hendrik Lieske