Vertical Magnetic Noise in the Voice Frequency Band Within and Above Coal Mines
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Report of Investigations 8828 Vertical Magnetic Noise in the Voice Frequency Band Within and Above Coal Mines By John Durkin UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR William P. Clark, Secretary BUREAU OF MINES Robert C. Horton, Director Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data: Durkin, John Vertical magnetic noise in the voice frequency band within and above coal mines. (Report of investigations ; 8828) Bibliography: p. 21-22. Supt. of Docs. no.: I 28.23:8828. 1. Coal mines and mining-Communication systems. 2. Electromag- netic noise. 3. Voice frequency. I. Title. 11. Series: Report of in- vestigations (United States. Bureau of Mines) ; 8828. TN23.U43 [TN344] 622s [622] 83-600 164 CONTENTS Page Abstract ....................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................. 2 EM atmospheric noise ........................................................... 2 Noise source ................................................................. 2 Earth-ionosphere waveguide ................................................... 5 Prior atmospheric noise measurements ......................................... 8 Surface vertical magnetic noise .......................................... 9 Underground vertical magnetic noise ...................................... 11 EM vertical magnetic noise field tests ......................................... 12 Noise measuring instrumentation.............................................. 12 Noise data ................................................................... 14 Data analysis ................................................................ 16 Sumry........................................................................ 21 bferences ..................................................................... 21 Appendix A*-- Abbreviations and symbols used in this report ..................... 23 Appendix B.--Instrumentation noise ............................................. 24 Appendix C.--Mine identification............................................... 27 ILLUSTRATIONS 1 . Vertical electric dipole on surface of a perfectly conducting earth ...... 3 2 . Expected vertical-moment time variation for main cloud-to-ground discharge ............................................................... 4 3 . Expected frequency spectrum of radiation component of electric field. .... 5 4 . Directionality diagram of average number of atmospherics occurring in 1 day ................................................................... 5 Propagation attenuation coefficient of earth-ionosphere waveguide ........ 7 Relative vertical electric noise field spectrum .......................... 8 Typical vertical electric field noise measurements ....................... 9 Coordinate system and earth conductivity model ........................... 10 Geometry of homogeneous half-space earth model with thin conducting sheet 12 Field test recording instrumentation.................................... 13 Playback instrumentation................................................. 14 Surface and underground mean vertical magnetic noise values from noise data .................................................................... 17 13. Regression results for surface and underground vertical magnetic noise versus frequency ........................................................ 19 B-1 . Noise-equivalent model of receiver .................................... 24 TABLES 1 . Surface and underground vertical magnetic noise values obtained at dif- ferent sites ............................................................ 15 2 . Surface and underground vertical magnetic noise mean and standard devi- ation values ........................................................... 16 3. Regression results for vertical magnetic noise ........................... 18 4. Expected vertical magnetic noise values for one-third octaves ............ 20 C-1 . Mines fromwhich magnetic noise measurements were obtained ............... 27 UNIT OF MEASURE ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS REPORT ampere m meter ampere meter m2 square meter A/m ampere per meter PA microampere dB decibel MHz megahertz dB/Mm decibel per megameter Mm megame ter F/m farad per meter m/s meter per second f t foot Us microsecond h hour PV m microvolt meter Hz hertz Pet percent in inch n ohm J/K j oule per kelvin rad/s radian per second K kelvin s second kHz kilohertz v/m volt per meter kilometer VERTICAL MAGNETIC NOISE IN THE VOICE FREQUENCY BAND WITHIN AND ABOVE COAL MINES By John Durkin ABSTRACT Information on vertical magnetic noise in the voice frequency band, both within and above coal mines, is needed for the evaluation of through-the-earth baseband electromagnetic communications at mines where horizontal loop antennas are used. This report discusses the theory of the source of electromagnetic noise, the propagation of this noise to an observation point above a mine, and its interaction with the local earth conductivity structure, which gives rise to vertical magnetic noise. The relationship of surface noise to underground noise is also discussed. Bureau of Mines investigators made surface and underground vertical magnetic noise measurements at a number of coal mines located through- out the United States. These data were modeled through regression analysis to characterize expected noise levels. The results are pre- sented, including results in one-third octaves for use in evaluating the expected performance of through-the-earth communication systems by articulation-index studies. l ~lectricalengineer, ~ittsburghResearch Center, Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA. INTRODUCTION The performance of through-the-earth harmonics of 60 Hz extending to several (TTE) communication systems is limited by kilohertz. noise, which degrades the intelligibility of voice reception and causes errors in In order to design a communication sys- digital data communication. Noise is an tem and predict its performance, several additive disturbance whose effects can be basic pieces of information about exist- reduced by increasing the signal power, ing noise must be known. The most impor- by proper signal design, or by signal tant aspects are the level of and varia- processing. TTE communication systems tion in noise amplitude in the short and are affected by three basic types of long term. For example, the amplitude of noise: instrumentation, atmospheric, and atmospheric noise varies both hourly and manmade. Thermal noise, generated by re- seasonally. However, before amplitude sistance in the antenna and front-end measurements are considered, the type of circuits, determines the receiver's ulti- measurement that will extract significant mate sensitivity. (A discussion of in- and useful information from the noise strumentation noise and its influence on phenomena must be determined. For this electromagnetic (EM) noise measurements purpose, the frequency of interest and when using an air-core loop antenna is the associated bandwidth of the communi- given in appendix Be) Atmospheric noise cation system must be known. Where mea- is a natural occurrence caused by light- surement of broadband noise is required ning strokes which radiate EM impulses for predicting communication system per- that propagate great distances. Manmade formance , the root-mean-square (RMS) noise is usually caused by power lines noise value is the most useful single and can severely limit the performance of measurement. This has long been recog- a TTE communication system. nized, as shown by the International Ra- dio Consultative Commit tee (CCIR) (8)- . Instrumentation, atmospheric, and man- made noise all have different character- Amplitude variation over the frequency istics. The average power of thermal band of interest also presents valuable noise is fairly constant, whereas atmos- information. Depending upon the nature pheric and manmade noise may vary consid- of its application, amplitude variation erably with time and frequency. The information may be in the form of spec- probability density distribution of ther- tral density or it may be broken into a mal noise is typically Gaussian, whereas number of bands such as one-third oc- atmospheric noise contains intermittent taves. One value of spectral density in- impulses superimposed on a Gaussian noise formation is that manmade noise contribu- background. The characteristics of man- tions can be easily discerned. Also, made noise vary considerably, but the ob- since TTE communications may be two way, served spectrum usually contains several both uplink and downlink, information on discrete frequency components with vary- the expected levels and relationships of ing amplitudes. Manmade noise is a both surface and underground noise must continuous-wave (CW) interference that be obtained; and spectral density data generally occurs at 60 Hz and at various provides this information. EM ATMOSPHERIC NOISE NOISE SOURCE distant storms from which the EM noise propagates in the earth-ionosphere The primary source of EM noise in the waveguide. extremely low frequency (ELF) through the very low frequency (VLF) range can be *underlined numbers in parentheses re- attributed to lightning discharges from fer to items in the list of references both local thunderstorm activity and preceding the appendixes. A lightning stroke consists of three main sections--the predischarge, main discharge, and slow tail--each of which produces energy in a different frequency range (15). The predischarge consists of a seriz of leaders of very short