Path Loss Modeling for Wireless Network Deployment in Water Surface Environments

The efficient channel model is an extremely important cornerstone for the deployment and optimization of wireless networks. At present, many channel models are presented and discussed extensively. However, the channel model for water surface is rarely mentioned. To meet the need for water environmental protection, more and more sensors will be deployed on the water surface to establish the sensor network so as to monitor water quality in real time. Therefore, wireless channel modeling of water surface is becoming more and more exigent. Nevertheless, the propagation of signal on the water surface may meet more complicated reflection and scattering, and this aggravates the difficulty of channel modeling. In order to tackle this problem, we analyze related propagation theory and some representative path-loss models in detail, then propose a channel model in water surface environments. To validate the efficiency of the channel model, we set up an experimental platform and measure the attenuation of the RF signal above a pool filled with fresh water. The experimental result shows that the proposed model is more consistent with the characteristics of the attenuation of the signal on water surface. This result can be applied into the deployment of wireless sensor networks on the water surface.