I-Corps: Reliable and Low-Cost Transceiver for Underwater Wireless Communications and Networks

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is in underwater wireless communications and wireless sensor networks. The innovative underwater wireless communication technology is highly desirable for enabling real-time wireless sensing and data communication. The reduced cost and improved reliability will enable wide-spread applications of underwater wireless communication system and will greatly enhance the capability of ocean big data acquisition and underwater infrastructure monitoring. The commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the successful technology transfer to field products, which in turn can make huge impact on ocean instrumentation, offshore environmental observation, infrastructure (bridge, oil pipe, river bank, levee) monitoring, subsea oil drilling, fishing industry, diver communications, underwater mine operation, and coastal surveillance with torpedoes, underwater robots, and unmanned underwater vehicles.This I-Corps project aims at developing a business plan for transferring the innovative underwater wireless communication technology into field products. The hostile ocean/river/lake environment imposes tremendous challenges for underwater wireless communications. Currently, the available acoustic transceivers are mainly second-generation technologies developed in 1990s, which suffer from either high cost or low robustness against changing environment. The innovative Turbo equalization algorithms for single-carrier modulation acoustic communications exhibit high reliability, high performance, and low hardware cost, and have been recognized as the third generation technology in underwater wireless communications. This I-Corps project will focus on three major tasks: 1) identify the value proposition, 2) analyze the revenue streams by discovering customer segments, revenue channels, and customer relationships, and 3) analyzing cost structure by studying key activities, key resources, and key partners. The goal of this project is to help transferring this underwater wireless technology into field products that exhibit low cost and high reliability.