Time domain channel sounder for underground mine applications

高效可靠的无线通信在井下采矿中得到了快速发展，并正在从安全、保障和生产力方面改变着采矿业。在这一地区，无线通信被用来通过语音和视频传输建立从矿井内部到地面站的连接，远程控制机器，并追踪人员和危险物品。这些通信系统必须能够最大化高数据速率，以便不同的应用和服务可以使用相同的带宽。近年来，无线车身网络(Wireless Body Network，WBAN)技术已经成为工业、娱乐、体育、医疗和采矿等领域的一种很有前途的通信方案。收集重要身体参数和运动的数据，并使用无线通信技术将其传送到指挥站。事实上，隧道的形状、墙的结构和尺寸以及里面的物体(如矿工和机械)在描述和模拟无线电传播时是至关重要的。此外，人体具有复杂的形状和不同的组织，每个组织具有不同的介电常数-电导率，这对信号的统计有很大的影响。因此，天线类型的选择对于发射功率有限的系统尤为重要。因此，本课题的研究目标就是设计一种高效的井下WBAN无线通信系统。在此背景下，将根据信道冲激响应(CIR)、增益和平均频谱效率来对毫米波WBAN信道的性能进行表征、建模和评估。为了实现这一目标，我们建议建立一个支持这一研究领域的时域通道测深仪。因此，可以测量路径损耗、快衰落特性、多普勒功率谱、均方根多普勒扩展和容量等传播参数，以评估它们对传输可靠性和延迟的影响。因此，我们请求资金购买示波器(用作接收器)，以便对地下矿山毫米波波段的动态无线电频道进行表征和建模的测量。这种基于射频发生器和示波器的时域通道测深仪可以在地下矿山等快速变化的环境下进行测量。

Efficient and reliable wireless communication in underground mining has experienced rapid development and is changing the mining industry in terms of safety, security and productivity. In this area, wireless communication is used to establish connections from inside mines to ground stations through voice and video transmission, control machinery remotely, and track down people and hazardous materials. These communication systems must be able to maximize high data rates so that different applications and services can use the same bandwidth. Recently, Wireless Body Network (WBAN) technology has emerged as a promising communication scheme dedicated to industrial, entertainment, sport, medical and mining fields. Data of vital body parameters and movements are collected and communicated using wireless communication techniques to a command station. In fact, the shape, the structure of the walls and the dimensions of the tunnel along with the objects inside (such as miners and machinery) are of vital importance when characterizing and modeling radio propagation. In addition, the human body with its complex shape and different tissues, each with a different permittivity-conductivity, has a significant effect on the statistics of the signal. Therefore, the choice of the type of antenna is particularly important for systems, where transmit power is limited. Hence, the aim of this research program is the design of an efficient WBAN wireless communication system in underground mines. In this context, the characterization, modeling, and evaluation of the performance of mmWave WBAN channels will be performed in terms of channel impulse response (CIR), gain, and average spectral efficiency. To achieve this goal, we propose to build a time domain channel sounder that will support this area of research. As a result, several propagation parameters such as path loss, fast-fading characteristics, Doppler power spectrum, RMS Doppler spread, and capacity could be measured to evaluate their impact on transmission reliability and latency. We thus request funds to purchase an oscilloscope (to be used as a receiver) in order to perform measurements for the characterization and modeling of the dynamic radio channels in the mm-wave bands in underground mines. This time-domain channel sounder, which is based on the RF generator and the oscilloscope, enables measurements under fast-varying environments such as underground mines.