Underwater Channel Characterization for Effective Communication Link

Abstract

Generating effective communication links in an offshore environment is a vital need for the oil and gas industry as well as the military domain. The highly conductive medium of the environment is yet the biggest hurdle to develop the channel. Focusing towards the challenges lies in underwater communication channel, this paper first presents an efficient transmitter and receiver design using the conduction current method. Subsequent to the design development, a comparative analysis is presented that can be used to model an optimum underwater communication channel through electromagnetic conduction. Effect of different channel characterization parameters is discussed such as conductivity, frequency and transmitter and receiver antenna separation. Through an efficient circuit design for transmitter and receiver, increasing frequencies increased the signal strength is proved. Further statistical analysis revealed that in the developed experimental setup, 100 kHz has a greater possibility in designing an efficient demodulation circuit design. The promising results have proved the possibilities in way forward for the technology.