Channel Characterisation and System Design for Sub-Surface Communications by David Gibson
ISBN 978-1-4457-6953-0. Softbound, 298pp, A4.
Published by the author via Lulu Enterprises, Inc. See lulu.com/content/5870557
Corrigenda: If you have a copy of the unpublished edition (V1.1; 2004) you may wish to download this corrigenda.
Description: Based on the author's PhD thesis, this book is a theoretical study of subterranean radio communication, with the focus being on methods that depend primarily on the penetration of electromagnetic fields through the ground. Through-the-earth communication using e-m fields - specifically magnetic induction - plays a role in search and rescue systems used in the mining industry. It is also used for borehole telemetry, pipeline location and by cavers and pot-holers. Chapters describe propagation, antennas, and the design of transmitters and receivers. A figure of merit - the specific aperture - is introduced as an aid to antenna design. A crucial aspect of all systems is the signal to noise ratio, for which the strategy of noise-matching is introduced. The design of a wide-band low-frequency sounder is described, for channel evaluation using a non-ideal binary sequence. A method of calculating the inverse of a generalised sequence is described, for which cross-correlation results in a system identification signal.
Keywords: atmospheric noise, cave radio, channel sounding, electromagnetic theory, inverse sequence, mine rescue, noise-matching, noise temperature, propagation, radiolocation, sequence design, specific aperture, sub-surface communication.
About the author: David Gibson studied maths and engineering at Cambridge University and was president of the university's caving club in 1979-80. By profession an electronic design engineer, he has also been the technical editor of the journal of the British Cave Research Association's Cave Radio and Electronics Group for many years. His many articles on cave radio and related cave-electronics topics have provided a firm and unique basis for further studies in this area. This book is essentially his PhD thesis from the University of Leeds, which was completed in 2003, whilst he was self-employed as a free-lance design engineer. David Gibson now works for the UK's Mines Rescue Service in its research and consultancy division.