Performance Analysis of Multilayer Coil Based MI Waveguide Communication System

In the non-conventional media like underwater and underground, the Radio Frequency (RF) communication technique does not perform well due to large antenna size requirement and high path loss. In such media, magnetic induction (MI) communication technique is very promising due to small coil size and constant channel behavior. Unlike the RF technique, the communication range in MI technique is relatively less. To enhance this range, a waveguide technique is already brought in practice. This technique employs single layer coils to enhance the performance of MI waveguide. To further enhance the system functioning, in this paper, we investigated the performance of multi-layer coil (MLC) antenna based MI waveguide communication system in terms of transmission range, path loss, bit error rate (BER) and bandwidth. Besides, the system performance is quantitatively evaluated in three different non-conventional media viz., dry soil, fresh water and wet soil. As compared with the single layer counterpart, the MLC system shows a significant improvement in transmission range, BER even in loosely coupled scenarios and shows a corresponding reduction in path loss. However, the bandwidth is observed to be low (< 1 KHz). In this analysis, the eddy current effects and parasitic capacitance are compared for single and multi-layer coils. It is observed that the proposed system performs better in dry soil medium due to less medium conductivity.