Merits and Challenges of Underground Sensor Network Systems.

The recent developments in low-power wireless communication, distributed sensing, and networking allow sensor networks to be deployed in places where no computer has gone before. Wireless underground sensor networks are an emerging type of sensor networks, where sensors are located under the ground and communicate through soil. Their applications involve precision agriculture, environment monitoring, and border patrol. Due to the significant impacts of the soil dynamics on communication, unique challenges exist for the development of networking solutions in this media. The recent developments in transceiver design, channel modeling, underground networking, and data harvesting will be described. Nebraska Underground Sensing and Precision Agriculture Testbed at UNL and recent experiments with center pivot irrigation system deployments in this testbed will be discussed.