A journey from underwater acoustics to underwater communications

Abstract:  

The talk starts with an underwater acoustics primer that introduces basic concepts and terminology. Simplified models for ambient noise and propagation loss are subsequently used to estimate communication ranges of acoustic modems, confirming empirical range-rate relationships published in literature. The talk continues with a more detailed look at acoustic propagation channels, considering the time-varying impulse response and its influence on achievable data rates. Processing examples are shown for acoustic recordings from an open dataset published by SFI Smart Ocean, which is a Norwegian center for research-based innovation. For more details, please visit https://ieee-dataport.org/open-access/sfi-smart-ocean-dataset-underwater-acoustic-communications.

Bio:
Paul van Walree received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in solid-state physics from Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands, in 1992 and 1997, respectively. From 1998 to 2009, he was an Underwater Acoustician with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), The Hague, The Netherlands. In 2009, he started as a Research Scientist with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), Horten, Norway. His research interests include acoustic communication, channel characterization and simulation, and miscellaneous topics in underwater acoustics and sonar. He is currently responsible for FFI’s knowledge position in the field of sonar and acoustics.