Subsurface Wireless Sensor Networks

Conventional thinking holds that underground- and underwater radio communication is not possible, except at very low frequencies employing very long antennas and high transmit power. However, researchers at The University of Iowa have demonstrated that using inexpensive, low-power radios, it is in fact possible to achieve reliable underground radio communication over distances of several meters. This allows for creating underground wireless sensor networks. A proof-of-concept network was established at The University of Iowa, where nodes that measure soil moisture content are buried over a 20×20 m area (up to 1 m deep). The nodes organize themselves into a wireless sensor network, reconfigure routes as radio link quality waxes and wanes, cooperate in routing data packets to a surface base station, and so on. In an agricultural research setting, an advantage of such buried wireless sensor networks is that, if nodes were buried deep enough, they may be left in place during agricultural field work. Power consumption is an important issue in wireless sensor networks. This is especially true in a buried network where battery replacement is a major undertaking. The focus of continuing research is developing methods of inductively recharging buried sensor batteries.