Photonics for wireless communications

Abstract

The problem of optimum signal transmission/reception is addressed under a wireless acoustics data communications framework. The ocean waveguide can be modeled as an inhomogeneous dispersive medium with a frequency- dependent Green's function. An FDM-type reception scheme with non- overlapping acoustic subchannels is proposed. This methodology exploits the optimal propagation frequencies along specific ducts and paths in the ocean waveguide. The parallel data transmission system used frequency division multiplexed (FDM) channels to avoid equalization techniques which introduce higher-order computational complexity to the receiver. Multicarrier modulation (MCM) ameliorates the effects of multipaths, and allows operation at multiples of the single-carrier transmission rate. The long symbol time used in multicarrier modulation increases the system margins against noise, intersymbol interference (ISI) and fast fades. Network topology issues are considered to determine optimum network architectures for underwater acoustic LAN's. A central network topology supported by a blind adaptive equalization (BAE) transmission technique is proposed as superior to a distributed topology in terms of power, bandwidth efficiency, setup simplicity, and elimination of overhead bits for short data packet exchange. Included is an investigation on the factors controlling the system's power efficiency.