Through-the-Earth (TTE) radio has been proposed for emergency communications in locations inaccessible by conventional means, such as underground mines. While the technology is viable, it is unclear how the signal propagates in inhomogeneous media; neither modelling or obtaining a conductivity distribution in the context of TTE radio has been previously attempted. With a robust model, many practical questions can be answered, such as what is the maximum range or the optimal frequency to use, or where the transmitter and receiver should be ideally placed. To this end, a finitedifference time-domain (FDTD) code was developed and optimized for the forward modelling of TTE radio transmissions. This method is computationally intensive, and to improve performance, it was run on a graphics processing unit (GPU). The This thesis could not have been done without the contributions of many people. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Claire Samson, for her invaluable advice for not only during this thesis, but over my whole scientific career since the summer after my second year during my undegraduate studies. I thank Vital Alert Communication, Inc., for their valuable financial support, via the Industrial Postgraduate Scholarship program with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) over the course of my research. Mr. Markus Svilans provided extended advice and guidance during my PhD, particularly during the first half. Mr. Mike Roper also provided considerable input over the course of the PhD thesis, especially during the latter half. Mr. Michael Homer is thanked for proofreading and giving his blessing to submit all the papers and abstracts, as well as for his assistance in the field. Mr. Vladimir Puzakov is thanked for his help with the hardware and for assistance in the field. Mr. Brian Du is thanked for his assistance in the field. Dr. Peter Kwasniok is thanked for his input into the numerous experiments done over the past three years. Mr. Andrew Schenk is thanked for his assistance with the hardware. Mr. Andrew Wahl is thanked for his logistical assistance. Mr. John Steckley, of Innovative Wireless Techologies, is thanked for his assistance in the field, during a trip to West Virginia demonstrating IWT and Vital Alert products. The committee for my comprehensive examination, Prof. Dariush Motazedian iv