SBIR Phase I: Megabit-Per-Second Underwater Wireless Communications

该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于解决海底技术进一步发展的长期障碍。今天，水下没有可用的无线宽带通信。每个远程操作的车辆需要一个用于通信的缆绳和一艘用于缆绳管理的支援船。拟议的调制解调器技术具有视频功能，将避免需要缆绳和昂贵的支援船。2013年，水下工业对ROV的需求超过12.3万天，预计2017年将增加到至少14万天。2013年，一艘ROV支持船的成本约为12万美元/天，总计超过70亿美元。拟议中的视频调制解调器将出售给ROV制造商和运营商，他们希望消除对ROV支持船的需求，并减少70亿美元的相关成本。提出的调制解调器技术将远程操作的车辆和机械连接到有线基础设施，使重型海底机械安全运行，而不会缠绕电缆或系绳，造成损坏或更糟的情况。该项目将在未来三年内创造10个新的就业机会，随着生产规模的扩大，还将增加更多的就业机会。这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在为海底工业开发一种更快、更便宜、更可靠的无线通信系统。目前最先进的深海通信链路要么是系绳的，需要长长的、笨重的、昂贵的电缆来连接机器和系统，要么是极低的数据速率，只能完成最基本的任务。拟议的水下无线通信系统将提供Mbps（兆比特/秒）范围内的数据速率，比现有的水下无线通信技术快1000倍，并支持视频流和水下基础设施、机械和移动水下航行器的实时控制。由于无线电信号不能在水下传播很远，因此拟议中的技术利用声波进行交流，就像鲸鱼和海豚那样。声音的传播速度比无线电传播速度慢20万倍，因此移动声波发射器和接收器遭受严重的多普勒失真。所提出的技术动态测量、跟踪和补偿这种失真，使无线通信的数据速率在水下前所未有。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in addressing a long-standing roadblock to the further development of undersea technology. Today, there is no wireless broadband communication available underwater. Each remotely operated vehicle requires a tether for communication and a support ship for tether management. The proposed modem technology is video-capable and would obviate the need for tethering and expensive support ships. In 2013, the subsea industry demanded more than 123,000 ROV days and these are expected to increase to at least 140,000 days in 2017. An ROV support ship costs about $120k/day totaling over $7B spent on ROV support ships in 2013. The proposed video-capable modems would be sold to ROV manufacturers and operators that want to eliminate the need for ROV support ships and much of the $7B in associated cost. The proposed modem technology connects remotely operated vehicles and machinery to wired infrastructure, enabling safe operation of heavy subsea machinery without the possibility of cables or tethers getting tangled, causing damage or worse. This project will create 10 new jobs in the next three years, with many more to be added as the production is scaled-up. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop a faster, cheaper, more reliable wireless communication system for the sub-sea industry. Current state of the art communication links for the deep ocean are either tethered, requiring long, bulky, expensive cables to connect machinery and systems, or have extremely low data rates, enabling only the most rudimentary of tasks. The proposed underwater wireless communication system will provides data rates in the Mbps (megabits/sec) range - 1000 times faster than existing underwater wireless communication technologies - and enable video streaming and real-time control of subsea infrastructure, machinery, and mobile underwater vehicles. Since radio signals do not propagate far underwater, the proposed technology uses sound waves, as whales and dolphins do, for communication. The speed of sound is 200,000 times slower than the speed of radio propagation, and mobile acoustic transmitters and receivers hence suffer from severe Doppler distortion. The proposed technology dynamically measures, tracks, and compensates for this distortion, to enable wireless communication at data rates never before possible underwater.