CAREER: Investigating Fundamental Problems for Underwater Multimedia Communication with Application to Ocean Exploration

无线水声通信是典型的水下物理层技术，由于其对射频的高媒质吸收和影响光波的散射问题。然而，到目前为止，水声通信解决方案只支持延迟容忍的低带宽监控应用程序。相反，这项研究能够近乎实时地获取和处理来自移动和静态海洋勘探平台的异类数据。实现这一目标将提高监测浮游植物生长和光合作用速率、盐度和温度梯度以及污染物浓度等关键动态海洋现象的效率。为此，本研究研究了旨在增强NSF海洋天文台倡议(OOI)网络基础设施能力的水下车载通信解决方案。该项目的主要智力优势提供了两种形式的位置不确定性的区别。通常，移动机器人相对于其自身估计的位置的不确定性(PI称为内部不确定性)是分布式水下机器人和联网的焦点。相比之下，PI引入了外部不确定性的新概念，即机动车辆位置的不确定性由其他人估计。具体地说，这项工作的重点是建立外部不确定性的模型，设计利用外部不确定性概念的可靠的水下通信解决方案，并通过仿真和现场实验演示整合计算和通信资源对海洋科学和技术的有效性。这项工作的更广泛影响之一是产生具有全面水下传感、通信和协调知识的计算机水平的本科生和研究生研究人员。PI将创建新的分布式传感教学模块，提供交换计划的机会，利用罗格斯大学现有的少数族裔学生外展网络，并纳入学生交流计划和团队教学方法。

Wireless acoustic communication is the typical physical-layer technology underwaterbecause of the high medium absorption of radio frequencies and of the scatteringproblem affecting optical waves. As of today, however, acoustic communicationsolutions support only delay-tolerant low-bandwidth monitoring applications.Conversely, this research enables near-real-time acquisition and processing ofheterogeneous data from mobile and static ocean exploration platforms. Reaching thisgoal will improve the efficiency of monitoring key dynamic oceanographic phenomenasuch as phytoplankton growth and rate of photosynthesis, salinity and temperaturegradient, and concentration of pollutants. Toward this end, this research studiesunderwater inter-vehicle communication solutions aimed at enhancing the capabilities ofthe NSF's Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) cyberinfrastructure.The primary intellectual merit of this project offers the distinction between two forms ofposition uncertainty. Typically, uncertainty in the position of a mobile vehicle asestimated in relation to itself (which the PI refers to as internal uncertainty) is the focusof distributed underwater robotics and networking. By contrast, the PI introduces thenew notion of external uncertainty, in which uncertainty in the position of a mobilevehicle is estimated by others. Specifically, this project focuses on modeling externaluncertainty, on designing reliable underwater communication solutions that exploit theexternal-uncertainty notion, and on demonstrating the effectiveness of integratingcomputation and communication resources on marine science and technology throughemulations and field experiments.One of the broader impacts of this work is the generation of computer-literateundergraduate and graduate researchers with a comprehensive knowledge inunderwater sensing, communication, and coordination. The PI will create new teachingmodules on distributed sensing, provide opportunities for exchange programs, leverageexisting minority student outreach networks at Rutgers, and incorporate studentexchange programs as well as team-teaching approaches.