On the Impacts and Benefits of Implementing Full-Duplex Communications Links in an Underwater Acoustic Network

Abstract

Acoustic signals offer a means of establishing wireless networks in shallow water regions. These networks may provide command and control for autonomous underwater vehicles, forward reporting by arrays of sensor grids, ad hoc communications links to covert forces, or positive control of unmanned, forward-deployed weapons systems. However, the capacity limitations and extreme propagation delays of acoustic communications must be addressed to ensure timely, predictable message delivery. This paper presents the status of current experimentation at the Naval Postgraduate School regarding the viability of full-duplex underwater acoustic communications. As implementation of full-duplex links requires partitioning the total capacity into distinct sub-channels, the paper presents a top-level description and specification of a capacity allocation protocol to mitigate the adverse impacts of such a partitioning when system load is light.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA478925

Entities

People

  • A. Larraza
  • G. Xie
  • J. Gibson
  • J. Rice
  • Scott Smith

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Sensors
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Communications
  • Acoustic Signals
  • Ad Hoc Networks
  • Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
  • Channel Capacity
  • Code Division Multiple Access
  • Command And Control
  • Computer Networks
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Mesh Networks
  • Multiple Access
  • Network Protocols
  • Networks
  • Time Division Multiple Access
  • Underwater Vehicles
  • Unmanned Underwater Vehicles
  • Wireless Networks

Readers

  • Computer Networking
  • Radio communications and signal processing.
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control