volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

In this paper the propagation of electromagnetic waves in a medium with non zero conductivity is discussed, analyzing the dielectric properties of the sea water, in order to accurately characterize a wireless communication channel. Mathematical models for sea water dielectric constant, wavelength, propagation speed and path loss when an electromagnetic wave at 2.4 GHz propagates through sea water are presented. A Bow-Tie microstrip antenna that is required to overcome the high path loss and bandwidth requirements in sea water is studied. A dual-band antenna, with arc-shaped circular slots, operating for IEEE802.11 b/g/n standards, at 2.4 GHz and 5.1 GHz for WLAN communications, with dimensions 1.4 cm² is implemented. Return loss, input impedance and gain have been extracted in order to characterize antennas' performance in a conductive medium.

1. Dargie, W. and C. Poellabauer, Fundamentals of Wireless Sensor Networks: Theory and Practice, John Wiley and Sons, 2010.
doi:10.1002/9780470666388

2. Jiang, S. and S. Georgakopoulos, "Electromagnetic wave propagation into fresh water," Journal of Electromagnetic Analysis and Applications, Vol. 3, 261-266, 2011.
doi:10.4236/jemaa.2011.37042

3. Hunt, K., J. Niemeier, and A. Kruger, "RF communications in underwater wireless sensor networks," IEEE International Conference on Electro/Information Technology (EIT), 2010.

4. Kulhandjian, H., L. C. Kuo, T. Melodia, and D. A. Pados, "Towards experimental evaluation of software-defined underwater networked systems," Proc. of IEEE Underwater Communications Conf. and Workshop (UComms), Sestri Levante, Italy, 2012.

5. Stuntebeck, E., D. Pompili, and T. Melodia, "Wireless under-ground sensor networks using commodity terrestrial motes," 2nd IEEE Workshop on Wireless Mesh Networks, 2006.

6. Nistazakis, H. E., G. S. Tombras, A. D. Tsigopoulos, E. A. Karagianni, and M. E. Fafalios, "Average and outage capacity estimation of optical wireless communication systems over weak turbulence channels," Mosharaka International Conference on Communications, Propagation and Electronics, MIC-CPE, 2009.

7. Liu, L., S. Zhou, and J. Cui, "Prospects and problems of wireless communication for underwater sensor networks," Wireless Communication & Mobile Computing, Vol. 8, No. 8, 977-994, Oct. 2008.

8. Che, X., I. Wells, P. Kear, G. Dickers, X. Gong, and M. Rhodes, "A static multi-hop underwater wireless sensor network using RF electromagnetic communications," 29th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems, Canada, 2009.

9. Rhodes, M., "Electromagnetic propagation in seawater and its value in military systems," SEAS DTC Technical Conference, Edinburg, UK, 2007.

10. Singh, K., Y. Kumar, and S. Singh, "A modified bow tie antenna with U-shape slot for wireless applications," International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering, Vol. 2, No. 10, Oct. 2012.

11. Yurduseven, O., D. Smith, N. Pearsall, and I. Forbes, "A solar cell stacked slot-loaded suspended microstrip patch antenna with multiband resonance characteristics for WLAN and WMAX systems," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 142, 321-332, 2013.
doi:10.2528/PIER13081502

12. Tze-Meng, O. and T. K. Geok, "A dual-band omni-directional microstrip antenna," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 106, 363-376, 2010.
doi:10.2528/PIER10052411

13. Zaker, R., C. Ghobadi, and J. Nourinia, "A modified microstrip-fed two-step tapered monopole antenna for UWB and WLAN applications," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 77, 137-148, 2007.
doi:10.2528/PIER07080701

14. Tawk, Y., K. Y. Kabalan, A. EL-Hajj, C. G. Christodoulu, and J. Costantine, "A simple multiband printed bow tie antenna," IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Vol. 7, 2008.

15. Balanis, C. A., Antenna Theory Analysis and Design, 2nd Ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 2007.

16. Sadek, S. and Z. Katbay, "Ultra wideband CPW bow-tie antenna," International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications, 2009, ICEAA’09, 261-263, Sep. 14-18, 2009.

17. Marantis, L. and P. Brennan, "A CPW-fed bow-tie slot antenna with tuning stub," Antennas & Propagation Conference, Loughborough, UK, Mar. 17-18, 2008.

18. Meissner, T. and F. J. Wentz, "The complex dielectric constant of pure and sea water from microwave satellite observations," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and remote Sensing, Vol. 42, No. 9, Sep. 2004.
doi:10.1109/TGRS.2004.831888

19. Hattab, G., M. El-Tarhuni, M. Al-Ali, T. Joudeh, and N. Qaddoumi, "An underwater wireless sensor network with realistic radio frequency path loss model," International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 2013.

20. Ulaby, F., R. Moore, and A. Fung, Microwave Remote Sensing: Radar Remote Sensing and Surface Scattering and Emission Theory, Remote Sensing, Addison-Wesley, USA, 1981.

21. Balanis, C. A., Advanced Engineering Electromagnetics, 2nd Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2012.

Prof. Evangelia A. Karagianni