EAGER: Prototype Validation of Surface-Reflected Acoustic Communication Links in Underwater Environments

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This project develops and validates a novel technique for establishing acoustic communication links among nodes in an underwater setup. Basically, acoustic links have limited bandwidth and suffers from slow and multi-path signal propagation. These issues make underwater communication a challenge and motivate the use of directional antennas to establish line-of-sight (LOS) paths between communicating nodes. However, the node mobility while serving an application or due to water current will break LOS links and thus hinders effective communication among nodes. To overcome this challenge, the team develops a novel surface-based reflection (SBR) scheme that allows nodes to utilize reflected acoustic links from the water surface or bottom as non-line-of-sight (NLOS) communication links. A prototype modem is to be developed to utilize a multimodal directional transducer for validating the feasibility of establishing NLOS communication when using the SBR scheme. The prototype design could be leveraged for networking protocols such as node discovery, localization, medium access control and routing. The end result is an efficient directional acoustic communication platform that mitigates the effects of multipath propagation while fully utilizing the available spatial spectrum.This project will boost the effectiveness of many civil and scientific applications. Examples of these applications include search-and-rescue, coastal patrol, oceanographic data collection, environmental monitoring, assisted navigation, and security surveillance. The project will also help enrich the undergraduate and graduate curricula in sensor networks, robotics, and embedded and distributed systems while providing outreach opportunities to demonstrate the prototype to local middle and high schools in order to stimulate interest in this technology among the next generations of scientists and engineers.