A Survey of Underwater Wireless Communication Technologies

Abstract

The increasing exploitation of natural resources under water, particularly in the sea, has ignited the development of many technological advances in the domains of environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, warfare, among others. In all these domains, underwater wireless communications play an important role, where the technologies available rely on radiofrequency, optical, and acoustic transmissions. This paper surveys key features inherent to these communication technologies, putting into perspective their technical aspects, current research challenges, and to-be-explored potential. I. INTRODUCTION Underwater wireless communications present new and distinct challenges when compared to wired and wireless communications through the atmosphere, requiring sophisticated communication devices to achieve relatively low transmission rates, even over short distances. Indeed, the underwater environment possesses a number of distinguishing features that make it unique and rather different from terrestrial radio propagation where traditional communication systems are deployed. Under water, several phenomena may influence communications, such as salt concentration, pressure, temperature, amount of light, winds and their effects on waves, just to mention a few [1], [2]. Despite all challenges, wireless communications certainly play an important role in practical underwater systems. Monitoring different phenomena in underwater environment is relevant in many different applications, such as oil and gas exploration, coastal security, environmental impact surveillance, navigation, and ocean-pollution control [3]. Specific examples include transmission of data among devices, such as AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) to AUV and buoy to AUV, particularly those employing wireless links. In fact, an entire underwater wireless communication network could

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