An Arctic-Type Shallow-Water Acoustic Waveguide as an Information Transmission Channel for Underwater Communications

Abstract

Model experiments are used to obtain the transfer functions of an Arctic-type shallow-water acoustic waveguide in the spring–summer period, including in the presence of surface waves. The calculations were performed for frequencies from 150 to 1000 Hz using the theory of coupling modes. From the numerical simulation results, the usable frequency range is determined for stable underwater communications suitable for waveguides with both acoustically soft and acoustically hard bottoms. It is demonstrated that for certain distances between the sound source and receiver and their location depths, errorless information transmission can be achieved even without special processing methods. Channel compensation with passive time reversal leads to increased transmission reliability predominantly in a waveguide with an acoustically hard bottom.