Electromagnetic characterization of a computational asymmetric analysis for wireless networks

While sensor networks research for terrestrial applications has made significant strides in the past few years, the literature has relatively few examples of papers that have validated the feasibility and reliability issue, for the performance of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for underground applications. The propagation characteristics of electromagnetic (EM) waves in soil, and significant differences from propagation in air, prevent straightforward characterization of the underground wireless channel. Fundamentals, such as the dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability, are required to solve the propagation of EM waves in soil. To this end, in this paper, we proposed a new model, Asymmetric Mixture Homogenization, based on the representative volume element concept, to characterize the dielectric permittivity of soil according to the composition of soil, and layout the foundation for efficient communication in this new environment. Further, in this paper we validated that with the latest wireless network system being used for terrestrial applications, challenges exists for the WSN to be used for underground applications. Experiments are performed to examine the link-level quality and received signal strength parameter between under-soil and above soil sensor nodes. The theoretical analysis and the experimental results prove the feasibility for the realization of WSN in underground applications.