شبکه های بی سیم مبتنی بر اینترنت اشیا برای کاربرد های لرزه ای IoT-Based Wireless Networking for Seismic Applications

I. INTRODUCTION AND RELATED WORK Wireless communications has been the driving force behind one of the largest and most successful sectors of industry during the past three decades. The telecommunications industry has become very mature from both technological and infrastructural perspectives; nowadays, it is possible to handle a gigantic amount of data transmission and coordination in stable and efficient ways. With the development of 3G and 4G technologies, and 5G on the way, wireless communications has proven to be capable of handling complex transmission media and mobility in a robust fashion. Obviously, there is a tremendous potential in wireless communications which is applicable to several other industries. The Oil and Gas industry as a whole and seismic applications in particular are good examples where an efficient data aggregation, transmission and storage are challenging due to the size of data and/or complications imposed by the environment. As an example, the technical and operational difficulties associated with scaling up cable-based land seismic operations motivate incorporating the potentials of wireless sensors in today’s seismic activities. This is because cables are vulnerable to environmental effects and can create interference on neighboring cables. On the contrary, wireless sensors can be lighter and maybe cheaper per channel than the cable-based sensors but also dramatically easier to transport, install and retrieve. Besides, no cables involved decreases the excessive weight of cable-based seismic recording systems and makes transportation of the nodes cheaper, and at the same time rules out issues such as tangling and cable-break repairs. More detailed comparison between wired and wireless seismic systems can be found in (Pellegrino et al. (2012); Kendall (2015); Allinson (2009); Hollis et al. (2005)). These advantages make wireless sensors a good choice for the following situations: first, locations difficult to reach and navigate, such as dunes, Jebels, and mountainous areas such as foothills and fold and thrust belts; second, temporary installations or surveys which are supposed to move rapidly to another location; third, remote locations with limited or no power access through wires. Therefore, immediate applications in our line of business such as quality control (QC) in harsh environments and monitoring in remote areas can benefit from networked wireless sensors. Notably, advanced wireless networking protocols and distributed data storage/processing can clearly add value and save us time and money. An overview of suitable wireless technologies in the market with the potential to be used in seismic operations as well as some networking ideas are provided in Gana (2008). There are studies which particularly target ground motion and landslide monitoring or early warning systems for volcanic activities such as (Fleming et al. (2009); Pereira et al. (2014); Fischer et al. (2009); Husker et al. (2008); Weber et al. (2007); Srinivas and Rao (2014); Picozzi et al. (2010)); there are also those who focus mostly on exploration seismic acquisition (Tran (2007); Barakat (2008); Savazzi and Spagnolini (2008); Savazzi et al. (2009a,b); Savazzi and Spagnolini (2009); Savazzi et al. (2010, 2011)). Each of these categories target different wireless technologies and networking designs based on what the nature of the scenario demands. Some ideas on using wireless sensor networks for seismic acquisition are sketched in Tran (2007) wherein different layers of the network design from different physical layer (PHY) technologies (WiFi, WiMAX, LTE. etc.) up to appropriate routing protocols are briefly discussed. Similar discussions with more information on network synchronization can be found in Barakat (2008).