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Underground Wireless Data Transmission Using 433-MHz LoRa for Agriculture

Wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) have potential for providing real-time data for agriculture and other industries without exposing sensors and communication infrastructure to damage. However, soil is a difficult environment for radio communication due to its dielectric properties and var...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hardie, Marcus, Hoyle, Donald
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6806308/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31569493
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19194232
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author Hardie, Marcus
Hoyle, Donald
author_facet Hardie, Marcus
Hoyle, Donald
author_sort Hardie, Marcus
collection PubMed
description Wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) have potential for providing real-time data for agriculture and other industries without exposing sensors and communication infrastructure to damage. However, soil is a difficult environment for radio communication due to its dielectric properties and variable moisture content. Low-power, wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies have been used to develop aboveground sensor networks for many industries, but have not yet been successfully developed for underground applications. In this study, we developed a 433-MHz LoRa-based testbed for evaluating both underground-to-underground (UG2UG) and underground-to-aboveground (UG2AG) wireless communication technologies in four in situ soils. The maximum transmission distance for UG2UG operation was 4–20 m depending on soil type, whilst UG2AG operation was able to communicate up to 100–200 m, depending on the operating variables and soil properties. Signal quality and the maximum transmission distance were influenced by transmitter (TX) burial depth, TX power, data rate, receiver (RX) antenna type, and to a lesser extent, soil parameters. Results suggest that with improvements to power management, the development of 433-MHz LoRa-based UG2AG WUSNs for agricultural applications is readily achievable, whilst UG2UG applications appear unlikely without substantial improvement in transmission distance.
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spelling pubmed-68063082019-11-07 Underground Wireless Data Transmission Using 433-MHz LoRa for Agriculture Hardie, Marcus Hoyle, Donald Sensors (Basel) Article Wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) have potential for providing real-time data for agriculture and other industries without exposing sensors and communication infrastructure to damage. However, soil is a difficult environment for radio communication due to its dielectric properties and variable moisture content. Low-power, wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies have been used to develop aboveground sensor networks for many industries, but have not yet been successfully developed for underground applications. In this study, we developed a 433-MHz LoRa-based testbed for evaluating both underground-to-underground (UG2UG) and underground-to-aboveground (UG2AG) wireless communication technologies in four in situ soils. The maximum transmission distance for UG2UG operation was 4–20 m depending on soil type, whilst UG2AG operation was able to communicate up to 100–200 m, depending on the operating variables and soil properties. Signal quality and the maximum transmission distance were influenced by transmitter (TX) burial depth, TX power, data rate, receiver (RX) antenna type, and to a lesser extent, soil parameters. Results suggest that with improvements to power management, the development of 433-MHz LoRa-based UG2AG WUSNs for agricultural applications is readily achievable, whilst UG2UG applications appear unlikely without substantial improvement in transmission distance. MDPI 2019-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC6806308/ /pubmed/31569493 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19194232 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hardie, Marcus
Hoyle, Donald
Underground Wireless Data Transmission Using 433-MHz LoRa for Agriculture
title Underground Wireless Data Transmission Using 433-MHz LoRa for Agriculture
title_full Underground Wireless Data Transmission Using 433-MHz LoRa for Agriculture
title_fullStr Underground Wireless Data Transmission Using 433-MHz LoRa for Agriculture
title_full_unstemmed Underground Wireless Data Transmission Using 433-MHz LoRa for Agriculture
title_short Underground Wireless Data Transmission Using 433-MHz LoRa for Agriculture
title_sort underground wireless data transmission using 433-mhz lora for agriculture
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6806308/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31569493
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19194232
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