NeTS: Small: 2G for UG: High Data-rate and Long Range Communication Techniques for Wireless Underground Networks

该项目旨在通过利用计算机科学、工程和生物系统工程方面的专业知识，增加地埋无线电的通信范围和数据速率。这个项目的目标是描绘地下通道的特征；开发适应环境的解决方案，实现高数据速率、远程通信；并举例说明在农业和交通方面的应用。无线地下传感器网络（wusn）在许多领域的新兴应用，包括精准农业，交通，环境和基础设施监测以及边境巡逻，强调了无线地下（UG）通信的重要性。然而，在通信范围和数据速率方面的现有限制阻碍了广泛采用。该项目开发的新方法扩大了现有和新应用的范围，从而产生了经济上可行的解决方案。该项目的成果和见解有可能促成一系列新颖的解决方案，从节约水资源以提高粮食产量到拯救道路上的生命。由于土壤和通信组件之间的相互作用，无线UG通信中扩展通信范围和提高数据速率面临着独特的挑战：(1)天线特性取决于土壤类型，并随着土壤参数（如温度和湿度）的变化而变化。(2)信道特性，如延迟扩展和相干带宽，是土壤参数的时变函数。(3)土壤-空气界面会导致天线性能和电磁波传播的波动，在系统设计时应考虑到这一点。为了应对这些挑战，该项目通过在内布拉斯加州进行广泛的实验来捕捉无线UG信道的脉冲响应，内布拉斯加州是土壤质地、气候梯度和土地利用最多样化的州之一。在此基础上，提出了先进的调制方案。此外，基于UG天线分析，开发了远程通信技术。考虑从农业和运输两个不同的应用来评估在农田和碰撞试验场开发的解决方案。

This project aims to increase the communication ranges and data rates of buried radios by leveraging expertise in the nexus of computer science and engineering and biological systems engineering. The goals of this project are to characterize the underground channel; develop environment-adaptive solutions to achieve high data rate, long-range communications; and illustrate applications to agriculture and transportation. The emerging use of wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) in many areas, including precision agriculture, transportation, environment and infrastructure monitoring, and border patrol, underscores the importance of wireless underground (UG) communications. Yet, existing limitations in terms of communication ranges and data rates prohibit widespread adoption. The novel approaches developed in the project broaden the scope of existing and novel applications, leading to economically viable solutions. The results and the insight from this project have the potential to enable a wide array of novel solutions from saving water resources for more food production to saving lives on the roadways.Extending the communication ranges and increasing data rates in wireless UG communications faces unique challenges because of the interactions between soil and communication components: (1) Antenna properties depend on soil type and vary with changes in soil parameters such as temperature and moisture. (2) Channel characteristics, such as delay spread and coherence bandwidth, are time-variant functions of the soil parameters. (3) The soil-air interface results in fluctuations in both antenna performance and EM wave propagation, which should be considered in system design. To address these challenges, the project captures the impulse response of the wireless UG channel through extensive experiments throughout the state of Nebraska, which is one of the most diverse states in terms of soil textural properties, climatic gradients, and land use. Based on this analysis, advanced modulation schemes are developed. Moreover, based on UG antenna analysis, long-range communication techniques are developed. Two distinct applications from agriculture and transportation are considered to evaluate the developed solutions in a crop field and a crash test site.