Sustainable Fishing: Chirp-Based Signals for Underwater Acoustic Communication and Localization

In recent years, connecting fishing nets underwater has received much interest in carrying out fishing activities efficiently and protecting the ocean from pollution, especially from ghost fishing. In this article, we propose a hybrid acoustic system for communication and localization underwater. This system offers fishers the ability to enhance their fishing activities by establishing a reliable data link and facilitating the tracking of the fishing nets. The proposed system is based on a technique called differential chirp spread spectrum to connect fishing nets underwater. Moreover, multiple synchronized hydrophones are used at the receiver to calculate the time differential of arrival and then estimate the location of the acoustic sources. The communication performance of the proposed system is evaluated in terms of bit error rate using simulation and ocean experiments, whereas the localization performance is presented as a root-mean-square error using Bellhop-based channel modeling for network simulation.