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The Future of Wireless Underground Sensing Networks Considering Physical Layer Aspects

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The Art of Wireless Sensor Networks

Part of the book series: Signals and Communication Technology ((SCT))

Abstract

The design of a WSN for the underground environment is typically characterized by an excess of either pessimism or optimism. For many years, underground communication has been considered infeasible. Rather, we should neither abandon the hope of designing a functioning underground WSN, nor expect things to automatically work in an underground setting by simply importing technologies from existing WSNs, the majority of which are developed for aboveground environment. Besides energy challenges (more critical compared to typical WSNs), the design of an underground WSN is governed by the characteristics of the underground communication channel. Compared to over-the-air (OTA) radio frequency communication, signal attenuation in soil can be 20–300 times worse. For instance, a typical communication range of 300 m for a radio transceiver can decrease to less than 1m in soil. Moreover, while OTA transceivers and underwater communication have been available for many years, the same cannot be said for underground communication. The mining industry has been looking for a long-range, low-power, wireless communication solution for rescue missions in the event of trapped miners due to a collapse, and has so far not been very successful. These facts highlight the challenges in realizing wireless underground communication. Recent innovations based on relatively short-range communication and high density of nodes can potentially lead to the proliferation of wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) in the near future. In this chapter, we present in detail the traditional challenges faced by WUSN researchers, the perceived limitations, and recent technological advances that are beginning to change the outlook. Through this discussion, we show that a generic solution for WUSNs cannot be expected. Instead, the design must be tailored to the application. For instance, the features and techniques to be exploited in designing a WUSN to detect oil pipeline leakage are distinctly different from that of a WUSN for agricultural draught or landslide monitoring.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical Engineering—Electrophysics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Agnelo Rocha da Silva & Mahta Moghaddam

  2. EECS Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Mingyan Liu

Authors
  1. Agnelo Rocha da Silva
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  2. Mahta Moghaddam
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  3. Mingyan Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Agnelo Rocha da Silva .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Dearborn, Michigan, USA

    Habib M. Ammari

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da Silva, A.R., Moghaddam, M., Liu, M. (2014). The Future of Wireless Underground Sensing Networks Considering Physical Layer Aspects. In: Ammari, H. (eds) The Art of Wireless Sensor Networks. Signals and Communication Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40066-7_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40066-7_12

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