Towards Internet of Underground Things in smart lighting: A statistical model of wireless underground channel

Abstract

The Internet of Underground Things (IOUT) has many applications in the area of smart lighting. IOUT enables communications in smart lighting through underground (UG) and aboveground (AG) communication channels. In IOUT communications, an in-depth analysis of the wireless underground channel is important to design smart lighting solutions. In this paper, based on the empirical and the statistical analysis, a statistical channel model for the UG channel has been developed. The parameters for the statistical tapped-delay-line model are extracted from the measured power delay profiles (PDP). The PDP of the UG channel is represented by the exponential decay of the lateral, direct, and reflected waves. The developed statistical model can be used to generate the channel impulse response, and precisely predicts the UG channel RMS delay spread, coherence bandwidth, and propagation loss characteristics in different conditions. The statistical model also shows good agreement with the empirical data, and is useful for tailored IOUT solutions in the area of smart lighting.