Multipath Effects on High-Frequency Coherent Acoustic Communications in Shallow Water

Abstract

Shallow-water acoustic communication channel, referred to as a multipath-limited channel, produces inter-symbol interference that poses a significant obstacle to reliable communication. Accordingly, signal-to-multipath ratio (SMR), rather than signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), becomes an important factor affecting communication performance. However, it is difficult to estimate SMR from measured communication data, especially at higher frequency (> 10 kHz) because many arrivals scattered from rough ocean boundaries produce a significant intrapath time spreading, which acts as random noise in communication. In this paper, the energy fraction of the channel impulse response existing in one symbol duration is proposed as a parameter for estimating the quality of shallow-water communication channels. This parameter is compared with the bit-error-rate performance for data acquired in shallow water off the south coast of Korea, where the water depth is 45 m and the bottom consists of sandy clay sediment. The results imply that the energy fraction in one symbol duration may be used as a parameter for describing shallow-water communication channels and applied to the quick decision of a symbol or bit rate in a shallow-water field for reliable underwater communication. (c) 2013 The Japan Society of Applied Physics