Underwater

Communication
By~
Molvika vyas
08EC000313 1
INTRODUCTION
Underwater communication is a technique of
sending and receiving message below water.

Typical frequency: 1 Hz to 1 MHz

Using acoustic waves(by hydrophones)

Speed of sound in water ~ 1500m/sec
Speed of sound in air ~ 340m/sec
COMMUNICATION CHANNEL
The signals that are used to carry digital information
through an underwater channel are acoustic signals.
The underwater channel is not homogenous in nature
due to density and temperature gradients.
Signals are subjected to:
 Multipath phenomena
 Transmission loss
 Ambient noise
 Doppler spreading
Multipath phenomena
 numerous travel paths exists between Tx and Rx
sections due to reflection of energy by boundaries of
surface and bottom.
Transmission loss: intensity of the wave reduces as it
propagates due to geometrical spreading and
absorption mechanism.
Ambient noise: influences the received Signal to Noise
ratio and largely controls the transmitter power.
Doppler spreading: by relative motion between the
transmitter and receiver, or motion of the water, in this
bandwidth reduces.
Wave propagation
Acoustic signal is narrowband
and is subjected to multipath
propagation mainly in
horizontal channels. tx rx

The figures show

Multipath propagation in water
c distance
In shallow water,
multipath occurs due to signal
reflection from the
tx
surface and bottom

In deep water,

it occurs due to ray bending
Multipath propagation also depend upon the depth of
the water and on the environment

To detect the signal on multipath distorted acoustic

channel receiver section comprises of an equalizer

Multiple inputs from diverse hydrophones enhance

performance
inp.1 com-
data est.
inp.2 biner forward data out
+ _ decision
forward

feedback
inp. K filter
coefficients

sync. Adaptation

training data
Adaptive decision-feedback equalizer (DFE)

Equalizer task is to unravel the inter symbol

interference
Adjust adaptively using output symbol
decisions
Frequency ranges
For high power transmission: VLF(very low frequency)
band, in the range of upto 10KHz is used.

for shorter range underwater communication,

conventional system use ultra sound acoustic
transmission, in the frequency range of 20KHz-
600KHz.
Acoustic modems
Comprises of transmitter and receiver
section:

Transmitter:
 data sources : digital data to be transmitted.
 serial to parallel data processing : for splitting of data
 n-channel modulator: for modulating with n-pairs of
carriers
 Hydrophones: for receiving the modulated signal
Receiver:
 Hydrophones: for receiving modulated signal and
conveying to RF circuitary.
 RF circuitry : amplify and shaping the signal
 Serial to parallel : splitting the signal
 n-channel demodulator: demodulating shaped signal
and outputting n-channel of data.
 parallel-to-serial :combining the data into serial data
Underwater networks
Integrated networks of instruments, sensors, robots and
vehicles will operate together in a variety of underwater
environments
Depending on the application there two types of Acoustic
network :
 centralized
 decentralized

To accommodate multiple users within a selected network

topology, the communication channel must be shared
Centralized network
Centralized network, nodes communicate through a
base station that covers one cell

Centralized network topology

decentralized network
In a decentralized network, nodes communicate via
peer-to-peer, mutihop transmission of data packets.

Decentralized network topology

Applications
Environmental monitoring to gathering of
oceanographic data(prediction of natural
phenomena).

Marine archaeology

Search and rescue missions

Defense
Challenges
Battery Power is limited
Limited available bandwidth
Channel characteristics
UW sensors are prone to failures because of fouling,
corrosion, etc
Mobility
Multipath and fading problems
REFRENCES

www.redtacton.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.howstuffworks.com
www.oceantechnologysystems.com
Underwater acoustic digital signal processing and
communication systems: By Robert S. H. Istepanian,
Milica Stojanovic
Thank you