Calculated Channel Characteristics of a Braided Coaxial Cable in a Mine Tunnel

The braided coaxial cable is studied as a communication scheme in a mine tunnel. A simplified rectangular waveguide model is adopted for the tunnel, and the shield of the cable is assumed to behave as a single inductive transfer impedance. Specific results on the attenuation of the monofilar and bifilar (or coaxial) modes of propagation, taking into account the possible existence of a thin lossy film on the cable, are presented. In order to estimate the maximum possible range of communication, we consider the coupling factors of these modes to transmitting and receiving dipoles inside the tunnel, and we present results on these factors for various cable parameters and over a wide range of frequencies.