Topology of magneto-inductive communication system based on the regular hexagonal array

Power consumption can be lowered when magneto-inductive communication based on the well-established regular quadrilateral array is applied to underground communication. However, the large path loss and low communication rate are obstacles. In comparison with the traditional topology of magneto-inductive communications, a new topology based on the regular hexagonal array is brought forward in this study. This topology could improve the communication rate and increase the energy density by optimising the topology. On the basis of the analysis of path loss in the low-loss model, this study corrects the lossless model, which proves that the new topology is superior to the previous one on bandwidth, group velocity, path loss and energy density. The three-dimensional (3D) model proposed in the study obtain the best effect in the above four aspects compared with the other two-dimensional and 3D models. The proposed model is suitable for underground communication.