Measuring the underwater received power behavior for 433 mhz radio frequency based on different distance and depth for the development of an underwater wireless sensor network

Underwater wireless sensor network (UWSN) important to enhance the widely use of the application of the Internet of things (IoT) for underwater. Uses of the acoustics base of wave propagations are the best ways to establish the UWSN. But the unpracticality of the hardware due to the size and cost has limited the application of UWSN. Radio frequency (RF) wave propagation is the best way to overcome this situation. Low frequency of the RF wave is proven feasible and suitable for underwater communication. 433 MHz RF were chosen to measuring the underwater received power behavior between the transmitter node and receiver node based on different distance and depth. HC12 transceiver module was used as a transmitter and spectrum analyzer with the telescopic antenna was used as a receiver. The received power give a good reading when the transmitter note was at 0.5-meter depth with a maximum operating range within 12 meters from the receiver

Design of an axial mode helical antenna with buffer layer for underwater applications

Recently, there is an increasing demand for high-speed wireless communication network for short-range underwater communication. From previous research, most underwater antennas produced omnidirectional radiation pattern which has lower antenna gain. There are a few considerations that need to be taken if the antenna is designed to operate in water environment. This paper discusses the electromagnetic properties which affect the underwater antenna design. Physical properties such as electrical permittivity and conductivity of water contribute significant effect to the size of the antenna as it influences the behavior of electromagnetic signal that propagates in water. In this study, an axial mode helical antenna with waterproof container is presented which operates at 433 MHz. The axial mode helical antenna has circular polarization and is suitable to support wireless application which is surrounded by some obstruction. The proposed antenna produces a bidirectional radiation pattern by placing it into a waterproof casing. Good agreement between the simulation and measurement results validates the concept. However, a little discrepancy between the simulated and measured results may be attributed to the noise originated from the equipment and the environment

Next generation IMPAQT miniaturized underwater transmitter system design

In recent years, terrestrial wireless sensor networks and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have developed rapidly. However, due to the limitations of Electromagnetic (EM) signal propagation in water, there is less development and advancement in the underwater wireless sensor networks domain. As part of the IMPAQT project, a novel wireless underwater telemetry platform using acoustics has been proposed. This telemetry platform has the potential to replace the underwater sensors cables and provide a wireless method to collect and transmit a variety of environmental sensor data under water. The proposed platform system architecture consists of several ultrasonic transmitter nodes and a gateway buoy as a data aggregator node to transmit the data from the sensors to the cloud for analytics to be carried out. Transmitter nodes will read the attached sensor data and transmit it to the gateway buoy. The gateway buoy will send the collected data to a data management system using a Long Range (LoRa) communication link. The next generation IMPAQT Transmitter node developed is a compact, low-cost, low-power acoustic transmitter node that has an external sensor interface to receive data from attached sensors is described in detail in this paper. In addition, the potential for short-range EM-based underwater LoRa communication is evaluated and described

Communication and control of autonomous underwater vehicles using radio frequency-acoustic hybrid MAC schemes

In shallow water subsea applications like control of AUVs, there is a growing demand of high-speed wireless communication links for transmitting data between AUVs and base station. Acoustic communication provide very low data rates and high propagation delays not suitable for high gain and high speed control of AUVs and on other hand radio communication is constrained by very high attenuation due to high conductivity and permittivity of water resulting in a very short working range. In this thesis, an Acoustic-RF hybrid communication system is proposed which uses acoustic link for long range communication and switches to Radio Frequency in close range. The system is tested on docking station model where AUVs get their location from transmitter at docking station and control the motors on AUVs to land on docking station. We show that this hybrid system solves the need of robust communication link as well as high data rate and low latency requirement of AUV communication. Three MAC schemes namely TDMA, Slotted ALOHA and Waiting Room are tested and compared in acoustic communication

Autonomous Sensing Nodes for IoT Applications

The present doctoral thesis fits into the energy harvesting framework, presenting the development of low-power nodes compliant with the energy autonomy requirement, and sharing common technologies and architectures, but based on different energy sources and sensing mechanisms. The adopted approach is aimed at evaluating multiple aspects of the system in its entirety (i.e., the energy harvesting mechanism, the choice of the harvester, the study of the sensing process, the selection of the electronic devices for processing, acquisition and measurement, the electronic design, the microcontroller unit (MCU) programming techniques), accounting for very challenging constraints as the low amounts of harvested power (i.e., [μW, mW] range), the careful management of the available energy, the coexistence of sensing and radio transmitting features with ultra-low power requirements. Commercial sensors are mainly used to meet the cost-effectiveness and the large-scale reproducibility requirements, however also customized sensors for a specific application (soil moisture measurement), together with appropriate characterization and reading circuits, are also presented. Two different strategies have been pursued which led to the development of two types of sensor nodes, which are referred to as 'sensor tags' and 'self-sufficient sensor nodes'. The first term refers to completely passive sensor nodes without an on-board battery as storage element and which operate only in the presence of the energy source, provisioning energy from it. In this thesis, an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) sensor tag for soil moisture monitoring powered by the impinging electromagnetic field is presented. The second term identifies sensor nodes equipped with a battery rechargeable through energy scavenging and working as a secondary reserve in case of absence of the primary energy source. In this thesis, quasi-real-time multi-purpose monitoring LoRaWAN nodes harvesting energy from thermoelectricity, diffused solar light, indoor white light, and artificial colored light are presented

Eulerian-Lagrangian definition of coarse bed-load transport: Theory and verification with low-cost inertial measurement units

Fluvial sediment transport is controlled by hydraulics, sediment properties and arrangement, and flow history across a range of time scales. This physical complexity has led to ambiguous definition of the reference frame (Lagrangian or Eulerian) in which sediment transport is analysed. A general Eulerian-Lagrangian approach accounts for inertial characteristics of particles in a Lagrangian (particle fixed) frame, and for the hydrodynamics in an independent Eulerian frame. The necessary Eulerian-Lagrangian transformations are simplified under the assumption of an ideal Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), rigidly attached at the centre of the mass of a sediment particle. Real, commercially available IMU sensors can provide high frequency data on accelerations and angular velocities (hence forces and energy) experienced by grains during entrainment and motion, if adequately customized. IMUs are subjected to significant error accu- mulation but they can be used for statistical parametrisation of an Eulerian-Lagrangian model, for coarse sediment particles and over the temporal scale of individual entrainment events. In this thesis an Eulerian-Lagrangian model is introduced and evaluated experimentally. Absolute inertial accelerations were recorded at a 4 Hz frequency from a spherical instrumented particle (111 mm diameter and 2383 kg/m3 density) in a series of entrainment threshold experiments on a fixed idealised bed. The grain-top inertial acceleration entrainment threshold was approximated at 44 and 51 mg for slopes 0.026 and 0.037 respectively. The saddle inertial acceleration entrainment threshold was at 32 and 25 mg for slopes 0.044 and 0.057 respectively. For the evaluation of the complete Eulerian-Lagrangian model two prototype sensors are presented: an idealised (spherical) with a diameter of 90 mm and an ellipsoidal with axes 100, 70 and 30 mm. Both are instrumented with a complete IMU, capable of sampling 3D inertial accelerations and 3D angular velocities at 50 Hz. After signal analysis, the results can be used to parametrize sediment movement but they do not contain positional information. The two sensors (spherical and ellipsoidal) were tested in a series of entrainment experiments, similar to the evaluation of the 111 mm prototype, for a slope of 0.02. The spherical sensor entrained at discharges of 24.8 ± 1.8 l/s while the same threshold for the ellipsoidal sensor was 45.2 ± 2.2 l/s. Kinetic energy calculations were used to quantify the particle-bed energy exchange under fluvial (discharge at 30 l/s) and non-fluvial conditions. All the experiments suggest that the effect of the inertial characteristics of coarse sediments on their motion is comparable to the effect hydrodynamic forces. The coupling of IMU sensors with advanced telemetric systems can lead to the tracking of Lagrangian particle trajectories, at a frequency and accuracy that will permit the testing of diffusion/dispersion models across the range of particle diameters