An official website of the United States government
Nonlinear optoacoustics enable effective communication across the air-water interface. However, the requirement of a high-power laser and the vapor cloud buildup can limit the power efficiency and data rate. Thus, a proper modulation and encoding scheme is necessary. This article tackles this issue by presenting an optical focusing-based adaptive modulation (OFAM) technique that can dynamically control the underwater acoustic source (plasma) and acoustic pressure. Specifically, the article describes two variants of OFAM for a single laser transmitter with stationary focusing (OFAM-1D) and dynamic focusing (OFAM-3D). The data rate of OFAM-1D and OFAM-3D is approximately 6 and 4.4 times higher than peak detection based on-off keying (PDOOK). Furthermore, both techniques are 137% more power efficient than PDOOK. Studying the bit error rate (BER) in the presence of ambient underwater noises for different node positions has indicated that OFAM can achieve low BER even at a 300-m depth for 50- and 60-mJ laser pulse energy. Moreover, machine learning (ML) techniques have been leveraged in the demodulation process for increased robustness. Specifically, the random forest (RF) model could yield up to 94.75% demodulation accuracy. Our results indicate that OFAM can lead to a new paradigm of air to underwater wireless communication.
more »
« less
An Efficient Pulse Position Modulation Scheme to Improve the Bit Rate of Photoacoustic Communication
Wireless communication from air-to-underwater is quite challenging because of the lack of proper physical signal that propagates well in both air and water medium. Photoacoustic energy transfer mechanism is the most promising method for such cross-medium communication, where a high energy pulsed light is focused on the water surface, causing the generation of an acoustic signal inside the water. Since acoustic signals can travel a long distance inside the water, this method enables an airborne unit to reach nodes at increased underwater depth. Yet the achievable bit rate for this process is very low. When a pulsed laser light with a higher repetition rate is focused inside the water, a vapor cloud is generated around the focus point, which blocks subsequent generation of acoustic signal and consequently limits the achievable bit rate. This paper opts to overcome such a limitation by proposing a novel pulse position modulation technique which can avoid such generation of vapor cloud and increases the bit rate significantly.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1917539
- PAR ID:
- 10530996
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 979-8-3503-3715-0
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 6
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Newark, NJ, USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
The present work reports on the novel implementation of a miniaturized receiver for underwater networking merging a Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (PMUT) array and signal conditioning circuitry in a single, packaged device. Tests in both a large water tank and a pool demonstrated that the system can attain large enough Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) for communication at distances beyond two meters. An actual communication test, implementing an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme, was used to characterize the performance of the link in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER) vs SNR. In comparison to previous work demonstrating high-data rate communication for intra-body links and acoustic duplexing, this implementation allows for significantly larger distances of transmission, while addressing the signal conditioning and submersible packaging needs for underwater conditions, thus enabling PMUT arrays for operating as complete underwater communication receivers.more » « less
-
An Adaptive DPPM for Efficient and Robust Visible Light Communication Across the Air-Water InterfaceThe scarcity of the optical power is the main challenge for underwater visible light communication. It becomes worst for communication across the air-water interface because of the reflection of light from the air-water interface. Differential pulse position modulation (DPPM) is one of the power efficient modulation techniques. In L-DPPM a block of M = log 2 L input data is mapped into one of the L distinct waveforms containing only one 'on' chip. The size of the DPPM packet is variable and depends on the value of input data and L, which makes error detection quite challenging. In this paper, we propose a frame structure that efficiently enables error detection within a packet for various symbol length, L, of DPPM. We also propose an algorithm using such a frame structure to enable effective detection of packet errors and for adaptively changing the value of L for optimal power efficiency while meeting a certain bound on the packet error rate (PER). We have named our proposed protocol as adaptive differential pulse position modulation (ADPPM). The Bit rate and PER have been studied for different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) through simulation. A comparison between ADPPM and OOK, DPPM with fixed L is provided.more » « less
-
The current era is notably characterized by the major advances in communication technologies. The increased connectivity has been transformative in terrestrial, space, and undersea applications. Nonetheless, the water medium imposes unique constraints on the signals that can be pursued for establishing wireless links. While numerous studies have been dedicated to tackling the challenges for underwater communication, little attention has been paid to effectively interfacing the underwater networks to remote entities. Particularly it has been conventionally assumed that a surface node will be deployed to act as a relay using acoustic links for underwater nodes and radio links for air-based communication. Yet, such an assumption could be, in fact, a hindrance in practice. The paper discusses alternative means by allowing communication across the air–water interface. Specifically, the optoacoustic effect, also referred to as photoacoustic effect, is being exploited as a means for achieving connectivity between underwater and airborne nodes. The paper provides background, discusses technical challenges, and summarizes progress. Open research problems are also highlighted.more » « less
-
This paper investigates how an airborne node can eavesdrop on the underwater acoustic communication between submerged nodes. Conventionally, such eavesdropping has been assumed impossible as acoustic signals do not cross the water-air boundary. Here, we demonstrate that underwater acoustic communications signals can be picked up and (under certain conditions) decoded using an airborne mmWave radar due to the minute vibrations induced by the communication signals on the water surface. We implemented and evaluated a proof-of-concept prototype of our method and tested it in controlled (pool) and uncontrolled environments (lake). Our results demonstrate that an airborne device can identify the modulation and bitrate of acoustic transmissions from an uncooperative underwater transmitter (victim), and even decode the transmitted symbols. Unlike conventional over-the-air communications, our results indicate that the secrecy of underwater links varies depending on the modulation type and provide insights into the underlying reasons behind these differences. We also highlight the theoretical limitations of such a threat model, and how these results may have a significant impact on the stealthiness of underwater communications, with particular concern to submarine warfare, underwater operations (e.g., oil & gas, search & rescue, mining), and conservation of endangered species. Finally, our investigation uncovers countermeasures that can be used to improve or restore the stealthiness of underwater acoustic communications against such threats.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/WOCC58016.2023.10139346
