Flying Plug: A Small UUV Designed for Submarine Data Connectivity
Abstract
In the context of an information-based society the ability to reliably retrieve, transfer and process large quantities of data in a timely fashion becomes a critical technology issue. In the context of integrating submarine offboard sensors and physically supporting data connectivity with terrestrial networks: reliable, high bandwidth communications ranks as an extremely difficult technical problem. Few operating environments place more limitations on the ability to transfer high bandwidth data than underwater. The conductive medium places strict limits upon RF propagation, visibility greatly restricts the bounds of optical transmission and noise, ray-bending and multipath dominate the acoustic environment. Data transfer rates are usually limited to at most a few kilobits per second unless a hard connection via a cable is established. But adverse logistics inherent with underwater cables and their associated infrastructure often renders a cabled system totally impractical from a technical or economic standpoint.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA422442
Entities
People
- Steve Cowen
Organizations
- Naval Information Warfare Systems Command