Efficient high-frequency underwater acoustic propagation through random media with wavefront predistortion by singular value decomposition: a communication perspective

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2009-10, Vol.126 (4_Supplement), p.2174-2174
• Main Authors: Burton, Lisa J., Puryear, Andrew, Lermusiaux, Pierre F. J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.3248475

Acoustic propagation through the fluctuating ocean environment severely limits the capacity of existing underwater communication systems. Specifically, surface waves, small scale turbulence, and fluctuations of physical properties generate random signal variation that creates deep fades and limits reliable communication to low data rates. This paper presents new theoretical signal processing techniques that use channel state information to provide high-rate reliable communication. Specifically, a general framework for efficient propagation through the ocean random media is presented, where efficiency is defined in terms of minimizing bit error rate. Based on results from this propagation framework, a communication architecture that optimally predistorts the acoustic wave via spatial modulation by singular value decomposition and detects the acoustic wave with optimal spatial recombination to maximize reliable information throughput is presented. This effectively allows the system to allocate its power to the most efficient propagation modes while mitigating intersymbol interference. The system consists of a plane of transmit apertures (acoustic emitters) and a plane of receive apertures (hydrophones). This method is applicable to link ranges of 100–1000 m using frequencies between 10 and 30 kHz. Many emerging applications, including real-time ocean observation systems, have the potential to benefit from the proposed architecture. [Support from NSF-GRFP and ONR.]