Underwater Acoustic Communication Research Articles

A Novel Embedded Side Information Transmission Scheme Based on Polar Code for Peak-to-Average Power Ratio Reduction in Underwater Acoustic OFDM Communication System

In this paper, we proposed an embedded side information (SI) transmission scheme based on polar code construction for PAPR reduction using the PTS scheme in the underwater Acoustic (UWA) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication system. We use polar codes due to the ability of the arbitrarily designed code rate. Additionally, polar codes can be employed to establish a nested code structure consisting of multiple subsets. The SI bits can be embedded in a polar codeword by exploiting these features. Thus, the approach does not occupy existing data rates or cause additional loss in data transmission rates. At the same time, it embeds m-sequence into the polar code as an indicator vector for the blind SI detector, which makes the blind SI detector able to autonomously discriminate SI at the receiver. Simulation and tank experiment results indicate that the proposed embedded SI transmission scheme has the potential to significantly decrease the likelihood of whole-symbol error caused by SI errors. Meanwhile, the proposed PTS scheme eliminates the need to wait for the entire packet to be received before obtaining the SI, thereby preventing waste of data storage devices and ensuring real-time performance of the Underwater Acoustic Communication (UAC) OFDM system. This achieves symbol-level real-time calculation for the system.

Data-Driven Analysis of Ocean Fronts’ Impact on Acoustic Propagation: Process Understanding and Machine Learning Applications, Focusing on the Kuroshio Extension Front

Ocean fronts, widespread across the global ocean, cause abrupt shifts in physical properties such as temperature, salinity, and sound speed, significantly affecting underwater acoustic communication and detection. While past research has concentrated on qualitative analysis and small-scale research on ocean front sections, a comprehensive analysis of ocean fronts’ characteristics and their impact on underwater acoustics is lacking. This study employs high-resolution reanalysis data and in situ observations to accurately identify ocean fronts, sound speed structures, and acoustic propagation features from over six hundred thousand Kuroshio Extension Front (KEF) sections. Utilizing marine big data statistics and machine learning evaluation metrics such as out-of-bag (OOB) error and Shapley values, this study quantitatively assesses the variations in sound speed structures across the KEF and their effects on acoustic propagation shifts. This study’s key findings reveal that differences in sound speed structure are significantly correlated with KEF strength, with the channel axis depth and conjugate depth increasing with front strength, while the thermocline intensity and depth excess decrease. Acoustic propagation features in the KEF environment exhibit notable seasonal variations.

Evaluation of inner product-based demultiplexing of vortex-based underwater acoustic communications signals in realistic environments.

Acoustic vortex beams have garnered recent interest as an avenue to improve underwater acoustic communication bandwidth and speed. Design and deployment of these systems in ocean environments and at operational ranges has yet to be demonstrated due to the challenging and dynamic nature of the underwater acoustic environment. This manuscript presents methods to model the time series of vortex-based communication signals in ocean environments using ray tracing algorithms. The methods are used to assess the effects of Doppler, ocean turbulence, positional error, and range-dependent environmental parameters on the inner product demultiplexing of the communication signals encoded in the acoustic orbital angular momentum.

Hybrid Duplex Medium Access Control Protocol for Tsunami Early Warning Systems in Underwater Networks

Tsunamis are devastating natural phenomena that cause extensive damage to both human life and infrastructure. To mitigate such impacts, tsunami early warning systems have been deployed globally. South Korea has also initiated a project to install a tsunami warning system to monitor its surrounding seas. To ensure reliable warning decisions, various types of data must be combined, but efficiently transmitting heterogeneous data poses a challenge due to the unique characteristics of underwater acoustic communication. Therefore, this paper proposes a Hybrid Duplex Medium Access Control (HDMAC) protocol designed for a tsunami warning system, with a specific focus on heterogeneous data transmission. HDMAC efficiently handles both seismic and environmental data by utilizing hybrid duplexing, which combines frequency duplex for seismic data with time duplex for environmental data. The protocol addresses the distinct transmission requirements for each data type by optimizing channel utilization through a group Automatic Repeat request (ARQ) scheme and packet size adjustment. Theoretical analysis predicts that HDMAC can achieve a channel utilization of up to 0.91 in smaller networks and 0.64 in larger networks. HDMAC is validated through simulations, and the simulation results closely match these predictions. The simulation results demonstrate the efficiency of HDMAC in supporting real-time submarine earthquake monitoring systems.

Cross-Layer Routing Protocol Based on Channel Quality for Underwater Acoustic Communication Networks

Due to the physical characteristics of acoustic channels, the performance of underwater acoustic communication networks (UACNs) is more susceptible to the impacts of multipath and Doppler effects. Channel quality can serve as a measure of the reliability of underwater communication links. A cross-layer routing protocol based on channel quality (CLCQ) is proposed to improve the overall network performance and resource utilization. First, the BELLHOP ray model is used to calculate the channel impulse response combined with the winter sound speed profile data of a specific sea area. Then, the channel impulse response is integrated into the communication system to evaluate the channel quality between nodes based on the bit error rate (BER). Finally, during the selection of the next hop node, a reinforcement learning algorithm is employed to facilitate cross-layer interaction within the protocol stack. The optimal relay node is determined by the channel quality index (BER) from the physical layer, the buffer state from the data link layer, and the node residual energy. To enhance the algorithm’s convergence speed, a forwarding candidate set selection method is proposed which takes into account node depth, residual energy, and buffer state. Simulation results show that the packet delivery rate (PDR) of the CLCQ is significantly higher than that of Q-Learning-Based Energy-Efficient and Lifetime-Extended Adaptive Routing (QELAR) and Geographic and Opportunistic Routing (GEDAR).

Underwater point cloud transmission framework: hybrid encoder implementation based on CNN and transformer

Abstract In underwater multi-robot systems, 3D point cloud data generated by sonar and depth sensors facilitates the execution of more complex collaborative tasks among robots, which partly rely on efficient data transmission. In this work, we propose a hybrid encoder framework based on convolutional neural network and Transformer for underwater point cloud transmission, aimed at dealing with large-scale point cloud data. Our encoder allows setting lower compression rate on regions or objects of interest for semantic point clouds, preserving crucial information in the point cloud. For underwater acoustic communication, we employ orthogonal frequency division multiplexing combined with deep joint source-channel coding for transmission to enhance the system’s error-resilience. Compared to state-of-the-art methods in the simulation experiments, our end-to-end framework achieves considerable compression performance while eliminating certain cliff and leveling effects, also demonstrating robustness even with changing channels.

Modulation Classification of Underwater Communication Signals Based on Channel Estimation

Classifying modulated signals for non-cooperative underwater acoustic communication is challenging due to signal distortion caused by fading and multipath effects in the underwater acoustic channel. Our proposed method utilizes channel estimation parameters to measure and correct signal distortion, thereby enhancing the recognition performance of the received signal. Modulation classification experiments were conducted on a public dataset with various modulation schemes, as well as on the same dataset with simulated underwater acoustic channels. The results indicate that our method effectively mitigates the impact of the underwater acoustic channel on modulation signal classification, improves recognition accuracy, and is broadly applicable to a wide range of machine learning classifiers. Finally, we validated these findings using real underwater communication data.

A novel superposition coding scheme based on polar code for multi‐user detection in underwater acoustic OFDM communication system

SummarySuperposition coding (SC) is a non‐orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme for the downlink communication system, which allows signals of different users to be stacked and forwarded simultaneously in the same frequency band. The codeword for each user is assigned a different weight at the transmitter to avoid signal conflicts and interference after stacking, and successive interference cancellation (SIC) is adopted to decode. A novel SC scheme based on polar code, suitable for the downlink multi‐user underwater acoustic (UWA) communication system using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), is proposed in this paper. Polar code is utilized to create a nested code structure that is divided into several subsets. We exploit this feature of the polar codes and assign each subset to the corresponding user in the channel coding process. The information bits are placed on the independent subset for each user, and the random bits are placed on the subset of other users while all the users share the same set of frozen bits. Then, the codewords are stacked with different weights. The selection range of power factors can be expanded through the double superposition of the coding and the power domains, and higher system throughput and fairness can be achieved. The simulation and tank experiment results significantly verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, making it most suitable for the downlink UWA multi‐user communication systems.

A low-complexity error-feedback lattice-equalizer with phase tracking for underwater acoustic communications.

Recursive least squares (RLS)-based equalizers are hindered by their high complexity in underwater acoustic (UWA) communications. This article proposes an adaptive equalizer with a phase tracking method for the UWA communication, named the error-feedback lattice-equalizer (EFLE). First, we derive the algorithm for recursively solving the least squares problem from EFLE, introducing a lattice structure using time and order updates, thereby reducing the complexity to be linearly related to its length. The error-feedback mechanism used in computing reflection coefficients ensures the numerical stability of the algorithm. By focusing on the rapid tap rotation in time-varying channels, we design phase tracking in EFLE to further improve equalization performance. To verify the bit error rate (BER) performance of the proposed EFLE, we study the UWA communication system and conduct UWA simulations and at-sea experiments. Comparisons include linear complexity equalizers such as least mean square (LMS), leaky LMS, least mean mixed-norm, and ϵ-normalized LMS equalizers, and quadratic complexity RLS equalizers. At-sea experiment results show that the BER performance of EFLE significantly outperforms its counterparts.

Robust joint multiple resources allocation algorithm for cooperative underwater acoustic communication networks

AbstractIn this article, a joint relay selection, power control and time allocation problem is studied to maximize the energy efficiency for the cooperative underwater acoustic communication networks. The joint optimization problem is full of challenges due to the strong coupling of multiple resources and the uncertain characteristics of the underwater acoustic communication scenario. To address this issue, the worst‐case method is employed to transform an original uncertain problem into a deterministic problem. Furthermore, we propose the block coordinate descent‐based method to decouple the strongly coupling multi‐resource allocation problem into three relatively independent sub‐problems. The coupling of multiple resources is completely decoupled, thereby greatly reducing the solving difficulty. In addition, given that the sub‐problems with the fractional objective function are still non‐convex and hard to solve, the Dinkelbach‐based method is proposed to transform the fractional objective function into a subtractive form. At last, the relay selection sub‐problem is transformed into a integer programming problem, and the time allocation sub‐problem is transformed into a linear programming problem, whose optimal solutions can be obtained by some well‐established solution methods. The power allocation problem is transformed into a convex optimization problem, which can be solved by the Lagrangian dual method. Finally, in the proposed iteration structure, the three sub‐problems are alternatingly solved until convergence. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed algorithm.

Underwater acoustic FBMC communication with multiple mode index modulation

In underwater acoustic communication (UWA), there is a significant presence of multipath and Doppler spread. The integration of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with index modulation (IM), utilizing subcarrier index modulation to enhance system performance underwater, has garnered considerable interest from researchers. Multiple mode modulation can enhance utilization by transmitting symbols of different modes on different subcarriers. Inspired by the concepts of index modulation and multiple mode modulation, this paper proposes a method that combines multiple mode indexing with the filter bank multicarrier system (MM-FBMC-IM), enabling the transmission of different modulation orders on each subcarrier to increase system flexibility. Simulations demonstrate that under the same spectral efficiency, multiple mode indexing FBMC offers superior bit error rate (BER) performance compared to conventional FBMC and index modulation FBMC.

Knowledge hierarchy-based dynamic multi-objective optimization method for AUV path planning in cooperative search missions

This study focuses on path planning for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) in underwater cooperative search missions. The complexities of the ocean environment, the uncertainty of target movements, and limited communication capabilities render underwater cooperative search missions dynamic multi-objective optimization challenges. Studies focusing on communication-constrained search strategies still lack reliable metrics for assessing underwater communication quality and do not consider communication dead zones. Addressing these deficiencies, this paper introduces a novel communication optimization strategy utilizing packet error rate as a metric for assessing communication efficacy, complemented by a potential field-based method for navigating out of communication dead zones. To tackle the inherently dynamic nature of cooperative search missions for mobile underwater targets, we propose a dynamic multi-objective optimization algorithm that employs a knowledge hierarchy strategy. This method enhances the NSGA-II algorithm's efficiency by extracting effective gene segments from historical Pareto solution set and generating a new initial population through recombination, hierarchy, and prediction. Distinct from other advanced dynamic multi-objective optimization approaches that are limited to theoretical problems, our approach is directly applicable to practical scenarios. The effectiveness and practicality of the proposed method are validated through a series of simulation experiments considering the impact of underwater acoustic communication. These results demonstrate that this research is not only innovative in theory but also holds significant engineering value and practical prospects in real-world applications.

A TMSBL underwater acoustic channel estimation method based on dictionary learning denoising

The shallow sea underwater acoustic channel exhibits a significant sparse multipath structure. The temporally multiple sparse Bayesian learning (TMSBL) algorithm can effectively estimate this sparse multipath channel. However, the complexity of the algorithm is high, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of shallow-sea underwater acoustic communication is low, and the estimation performance of the TMSBL algorithm is greatly affected by noise. To address this problem, an improved TMSBL underwater acoustic channel estimation method based on a dictionary learning noise reduction algorithm is proposed. Firstly, the K-Singular Value Decomposition (K-SVD) dictionary learning method is used to reduce the noise of the received pilot matrix, reducing the influence of noise on the signal. Then, the Generalized Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (GOMP) channel estimation method is combined to obtain a priori information such as the perceptual matrix and hyperparameter matrix for TMSBL channel estimation; and the noise variance is obtained by using the null subcarrier calculation instead of iteratively updating the noise variance in the TMSBL, to improve the estimation accuracy and reduce the algorithmic complexity. Finally, the TMSBL channel estimation method is used to estimate the underwater acoustic channels of different symbols jointly. The simulation results show that the normalized mean square error of the channel estimation of the improved TMSBL method is reduced by about 92.2% compared with the TMSBL algorithm, obtaining higher estimation accuracy; running time is reduced by about 45.6%, and there is also better performance in terms of the running speed, which provides a reference for underwater acoustic channel estimation.

Underwater Acoustic Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing Communication Using Deep Neural Network-Based Receiver: River Trial Results.

In this article, a deep neural network (DNN)-based underwater acoustic (UA) communication receiver is proposed. Conventional orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) receivers perform channel estimation using linear interpolation. However, due to the significant delay spread in multipath UA channels, the frequency response often exhibits strong non-linearity between pilot subcarriers. Since the channel delay profile is generally unknown, this non-linearity cannot be modeled precisely. A neural network (NN)-based receiver effectively tackles this challenge by learning and compensating for the non-linearity through NN training. The performance of the DNN-based UA communication receiver was tested recently in river trials in Western Australia. The results obtained from the trials prove that the DNN-based receiver performs better than the conventional least-squares (LS) estimator-based receiver. This paper suggests that UA communication using DNN receivers holds great potential for revolutionizing underwater communication systems, enabling higher data rates, improved reliability, and enhanced adaptability to changing underwater conditions.

Application of ARIS and Adaptive Filtering Algorithm in Underwater Acoustic Communication

As the core of marine communication, underwater acoustic communication technology significantly improves the performance of underwater communication by using technologies such as modulation, multiple access and anti-interference. Among them, adaptive filtering technology plays a key role in eliminating noise and channel equalization. This paper explores the novel application of acoustic reconfigurable intelligence surface (ARIS) and adaptive filtering in underwater acoustic communication. It introduces the concept of ARIS-assisted underwater acoustic communication, integrating the least mean squares (LMS) algorithm to dynamically estimate and mitigate oceanic noise. This approach further enhances signal clarity and communication quality by leveraging orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technology. Simulation results show that the underwater acoustic channel with ARIS is superior to the traditional channel without ARIS in terms of bit error rate and anti-interference performance. This technology significantly enhances the reception quality of underwater communication signals, making it suitable for applications in marine monitoring, military communication, and other complex environments.

Performance Analysis of Deep Learning based Signal Constellation Identification Algorithms for Underwater Acoustic Communications

This research delves into the evaluation of Deep learning signal constellation identification (DL-SCI) algorithms in underwater acoustic communications using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). It distinctly examines at how effective the recurrent neural networks (RNNs), particularly, Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) algorithms in predicting the signal constellation when applied to different underwater acoustic channels characteristics. Unlike manual feature selection in machine learning (ML), in this paper, DL-SCI exploits the labelled OFDM signals at the transmitter to detect and decode them at the receiver. In order to measure their effectiveness performance metrics, Bit Error Rate (BER) and parameters derived from the confusion matrix such as accuracy and precision are used. The study highlights the importance of utilizing zero cyclic prefix techniques which can exploit the inherent bandwidth limitation effectively. Furthermore, when examining complexity, it is observed that both GRU and LSTM algorithms require less floating-point operations (FLOPS) compared to traditional methods such as Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and Least Squares (LS). Interestingly GRU shows performance in terms of complexity when compared to LSTM. Moreover, GRU outperforms LSTM by achieving a 4 dB improvement for long subcarriers. These results emphasize the effectiveness of learning techniques in enhancing performance and efficiency in acoustic communications.

Design of an Anti-interference long-range acoustic Communication System Based on optimal length segment coding

Abstract With the increased demand for unmanned vehicles in marine development, the development of underwater acoustic communication technology has received much attention. One of the key technologies in the research of long-range underwater acoustic communication technology is the use of underwater acoustic channels for efficient and stable data transmission. The harsh environment of the underwater acoustic channel has a significant impact on the rate and quality of underwater acoustic communication, making it a challenging research direction to achieve high-speed and reliable telecommunication systems underwater. In this paper, a high-speed remote command-based communication system is investigated, and a long-range acoustic communication system with good adaptability to sudden and continuous interference is designed based on a remote unmanned platform. A method for encoding the communication message in segments of optimal length is proposed in this paper. This coding method can enhance the anti-sudden interference capability of the communication system which has a certain degree of communication confidentiality, and the performance of this anti-interference communication system is verified by laboratory tests and field tests. The verification results show that the proposed telecommunication system based on optimal length segment coding has better performance in anti-sudden interference and continuous interference, which can make the communication system performance more stable and increase the success rate of command-based communication significantly.

Sustainable Fishing: Chirp-Based Signals for Underwater Acoustic Communication and Localization

Sustainable Fishing: Chirp-Based Signals for Underwater Acoustic Communication and Localization

Joint Bayesian Channel Estimation and Data Detection for Underwater Acoustic Communications

Joint Bayesian Channel Estimation and Data Detection for Underwater Acoustic Communications

Research on SNR enhancement method of underwater airgun impulse signal

Abstract Seismic airgun blasting is nowadays widely employed for ocean exploration and marine geophysical study. Being powerful acoustic source showing excellent repeatability and consistency, it’s potentially applicable for long-distance underwater acoustic communication. Given the sound generating mechanism of airguns, the generated signals cannot be modulated compared with sources signals that are more commonly used for communications purposes. Thus the use of time delay shift coding system, which is both necessary and advantageous under such circumstances. The detection of the impulsive signal from airgun blasting and accurate estimation of its arrival time at the receiving end is paramount for carrying out a time delay shift coding communication. Consequentially, augmentation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of received signal through enhancement is the most direct and effective approach. This manuscript presents an enhancement method of the airgun blasting signals: A recursive wavelet modulus maxima denoising method is introduced, by separating the raw signals into noise components and signal components iteratively, details information that is erroneously erased by conventional wavelet modulus maxima denoising method can thus been preserved. Coupled with the proposed use of a loop coefficient of determination, automatic balancing between denoising effectiveness and distortion of valid signals is acrhieved.