Magnetic Induction Based Communication Research Articles

Joint Design of Communication, Wireless Energy Transfer, and Control for Swarm Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

A swarm of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) can provide richer spatial-temporal information than the traditional single-robot system, which can be used for underwater mapping, exploration, target tracking, among others. However, the limitation of AUVs’ battery cannot support persistent services, which restricts AUVs’ operating range and mission duration. In this paper, a mobile underwater charging solution is developed that can continuously recharge a swarm of AUVs by using a wireless mobile charger. Magnetic induction-based communication and wireless energy transfer are employed. This paper first shows that by using tri-axis coils, reliable wireless communication and wireless energy transfer without coil orientation losses can be obtained. After that, wireless communication, motion control, and wireless energy transfer are jointly designed for a swarm of mission-driven AUVs. In particular, optimal continuous motion controllers are developed for AUVs to avoid intra-swarm collisions and networking protocols are designed to optimally allocate resources for wireless communication and wireless energy transfer. The proposed approach can guide AUVs to their destinations, while maintaining wireless network integrity and maximizing wireless energy transfer efficiency, upon which the constraints on AUVs’ batteries can be eliminated and cheaper and smaller AUVs can be employed for various underwater applications.

Towards Microscale NFC-Enabled IoT Sensors: Physical and MAC Layer Design Analysis

Microscale sensors provide critical solutions in diverse fields, ranging from measurement, automation, and control in industrial, agricultural, and biomedical applications. However, their development is limited by many requirements and challenges, such as efficient powering and the selection of suitable wireless communication technologies. A number of wireless communication technologies have been deployed in these sensors, including terahertz (Thz) radio frequency and ultrasound. Designing sensors in micro-scale imposes challenges for any communication technique deployed. This paper investigates the use of magnetic induction-based backscatter communication in a microscale sensor. The aim here is to provide both physical and media access control (MAC) layer design analysis for a microscale mote that is powered inductively and communicates with a reader using backscattering. Magnetic induction-based communication and powering are demonstrated via analysis and simulation for the mote. Then, low-power modulation, error-correction coding, and suitable low-power MAC schemes with evidence of feasible implementation in microscale are explored. Results of the performance analysis indicate that the proposed design achieves communication at a range of at least a few centimeters (5–6 cm) with an acceptable bit error rate (BER). Finally, MAC layer analysis reveals the optimum number of motes to be deployed for various read delays and transmission rates.