Wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs) present a variety of new research challenges. Magnetic induction (MI) based transmission has been proposed to overcome the very harsh propagation conditions in underground communications in recent years. In this approach, induction coils are utilized as antennas in the sensor nodes. This solution achieves longer transmission ranges compared to the traditional electromagnetic (EM) waves based approach. Furthermore, a passive relaying technique has been proposed in the literature where additional resonant circuits are deployed between the nodes. However, this solution is shown to provide only a limited performance improvement under practical system design contraints. In this work, the potential of an active relay device is investigated which may improve the performance of the system by combining the benefits of the traditional wireless relaying and the MI based signal transmission.
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