Analysis of experimental shallow water network channel and theoretical channel model

Abstract

This paper describes the testing of an experimental water acoustic network communication that was conducted at the North Sea, Netherlands. The North Sea is a shallow channel that exhibits multipath propagation that results in signal fading and phase fluctuations at the receiver. The Doppler effect is another phenomenon that is observed due the movement of both the source and the receiver that is caused either by the swelling of the wave fronts or the mechanical movement of the source. Sources of background noise are highly variable from a mixture of environmental and man-made noises. Situations of multiuser paths with range to depth ratio of 28:1 and 277:1 respectively are examined and the results from the experimental data are then compared to a simulated theoretical model. The simulated channel is characterized by using ray theory and extending it to a multipath expansion for a series of reflections resulting in multipath arrival at the receiver.