SBIR Phase I: Low Cost, Highly Efficient Wireless Underwater Acoustic Modem

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目支持开发低成本，高效率，无线，水下调制解调器，这将导致水下传感器网络的新应用。 如今，市场上可买到的水下调制解调器花费几千美元，并且通常被设计用于使用硬连线的外部电源的点对点通信。 因此，这些调制解调器对于构建水下传感器网络是不实用的。 本项目的目标是建立一个调制解调器，将填补这一空白，在水产技术的可行性和指导未来的发展，提供构建负担得起的无线水下传感器网络的积木。 调制解调器的无线功能使测量数据能够实时连续传输到地面上的处理中心。 该调制解调器的设计包括可配置硬件和电源管理电路，通过响应环境条件自动调整各种系统参数来最大限度地降低功耗。 该调制解调器的低成本不仅使传感器网络能够负担得起许多新的应用，而且高效率也将降低维护成本，因为调制解调器将长时间工作而不需要对电源充电。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，随着低成本、高效率、水下调制解调器的开发，密集水下网络的概念将成为世界各地教育机构、政府和公司的现实。 水下调制解调器可以监测各种水生条件，如温度、盐度、营养物浓度、挥发性碳氢化合物和病原菌。 通过在小区域中部署许多调制解调器来创建密集的水下网络，可以获得对水生环境条件的完整和准确的描述。 以负担得起的成本实时监测任何水环境的能力导致了一系列新的应用，例如监测湖泊和河流以及沿着的污染，以及监测城市水库中饮用水的纯度。 对于公司来说，水下传感器网络将为工业设施提供有效的测量系统，以监测其废水，确保其遵守管理其活动的环境和安全法规。 在全球范围内，及早发现海啸等自然灾害和漏油等人为灾害，可以大大减轻对生命、财产和环境的损害。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Project supports the development of a low cost, highly efficient, wireless, underwater modem that will lead to new applications for underwater sensor networks. Today, commercially available underwater modems cost several thousand dollars and are typically designed for point-to-point communications using external power sources that are hardwired. Therefore, these modems are not practical for building underwater sensor networks. The objective of this project is to establish the feasibility and direct the future development of a modem that will fill this void in aquatic technology by providing the building blocks for constructing affordable wireless underwater sensor networks. The modem's wireless capability enables measurement data to be continuously transmitted to processing centers on the surface in real-time. The modem's design includes configurable hardware and power management circuitry that minimizes power consumption by automatically adjusting various system parameters in response to environmental conditions. The modem's low cost will not only make sensor networks affordable for a host of new applications, but the high efficiency will also reduce the maintenance costs as the modem will operate for extended periods without the need to recharge the power source.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that with the development of the low cost, highly efficient, underwater modem, the concept of dense underwater networks will become a realization for educational institutions, governments and companies around the world. Underwater modems can monitor various aquatic conditions, such as temperature, salinity, nutrient concentration, volatile hydrocarbons, and pathogenic bacteria. By deploying many modems in a small area to create a dense underwater network, a complete and accurate description of aquatic environmental conditions may be obtained. The ability to monitor any aquatic environment in real-time at an affordable cost leads to a host of new applications, such as the monitoring of pollution in lakes and rivers and along shorelines and monitoring the purity of drinking water in municipal reservoirs. For companies, underwater sensor networks would provide effective measurement systems for industrial facilities to monitor their effluent water to ensure their compliance to the environmental and safety regulations that govern their activities. On the global scale, early detection of natural events, such as tsunamis, and man-made disasters, such as oil spills and leaks, can greatly mitigate harm to lives, property and the environment.