Overview of underwater communication technology

Abstract

Wireless transmission is important either in normal terrestrials or underwater network. It provides connection regardless of the obstacle surrounding the network. This technology can contribute to various benefits in terms of underwater environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, surveillance operation and military. In water environment, there are three common techniques that are normally available nowadays which rely on acoustic, optical or radio frequency (RF) channel. Acoustic is the earliest underwater communication technology which is widely used and it allows the longest range of communication, but it has some limitations in term of the low throughput and is also affected with the Doppler effects. Optical and RF technology are able to provide higher data rate compared to acoustic but both technologies have limitation in term of the transmission distance. However, RF technology is more suitable to be considered for short distance transmission with moderate data rate as the optical signal normally requires line-of-sight between transmitter and receiver link that is hard to be achieved in water that has higher particle inside. Therefore, suitable antenna design should be created to establish underwater communication that employs RF technology that can transmit higher data rate in short distance.