Effect of Wind Noise on Undersea Acoustic Network Performance and Design
Abstract
For acoustic frequencies of interest in the development of undersea wireless wide-area networks, wind noise is the dominant contribution to channel noise. The large dynamic range of wind noise forces the network designer to consider wide variations in link margin and effective node-to-node range. Previous reported correlations of acoustic communication performance and wind speed led to multiple hypotheses explaining degradation, including noise variability as well as wind-driven sea-surface effects such as roughness, entrained bubbles, mixing, and stratification. This thesis examines operations of a 40-node, wide-area acoustic network in varying noise conditions. This data set is unique in that the environment is strongly downward refracting. Based on theoretical models, wind noise is assumed to dominate all other noise sources. Considerations include dependence of link margin and range on wind speed. Although the experiment was not designed to examine the correlation between transmission range and wind speed, a weak correlation was observed in the limited data set available.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA439220
Entities
People
- Christopher S. Hurt
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School