Micro-Power Underwater Mesh Networks “Underwater Internet of Things”

Reliable communication in the marine environment poses considerable challenges. RF (Radio Frequency) based solutions such as WiFi, Bluetooth, LoRa will not function well underwater over appreciable (>1m) distances. Lower frequency RF energy (e.g., VHF, HF etc.) may propagate a few meters underwater but this is still not practical for building underwater wireless networks.

The Problem

While acoustic communication is preferred in the marine environment, this has its own drawbacks including limited (and distance dependant) bandwidth, significant doppler shifts (in comparison to signalling frequency), multipath propagation, path loss, and anthropogenic and biological noise sources (including impulse noise due to e.g., snapping shrimp).

Our Solution

Development of a miniature and low power method of sub-sea communications would allow for interconnecting of sensors and systems forming networks which can be used to augment data collection, provide system redundancy, enable autonomous platform coordination and allow for far-field communications and geolocation through linkages to the surface. This project will develop both the hardware, software and network topologies necessary to realise this vision.

Collaborators

This project is lead by Jacques Malan and is supported by Postdoctoral Fellow Reem Sherif.