Transmission Performance of 433 Mhz Wireless Sensor Nodes in Through-the-Earth Communication

摘要

Wireless sensor nodes have the advantage of being low-cost easily deployed and of good mobility. However, the significantly high attenuation caused by soil is the main challenge for the communication of between the aboveground node and the underground node. In this paper, experimental measurements have been conducted with wireless sensor nodes at the frequency of 433 MHz. Experiments are run to examine the received signal strength of correctly received packets and the packet error rate for through-the-earth communication. The tests show the underground node burial depth and the volumetric water content of the soil are the most important factor to adversely affect the communication.