Thesis (M.S. in environmental science)--Washington State University, May 2010. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 11, 2010). School of Earth and Environmental Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-39).

Thesis (M.S. in Engineering Acoustics)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2005. / Thesis Advisor(s): Joseph A. Rice, Joseph A. Rice. Includes bibliographical references (p. 47). Also available online.

No description available.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / An acoustic modem employing direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS) signaling is considered with LDPC coding. The underwater acoustic channel is tracked using a Kalman filter which requires accurate data decisions. To improve KF performance and reduce the overall error rate, joint iterative LDPC decoding and channel estimation is proposed based on a factor graph and sum-product algorithm approximation. In this scheme, the decoder posterior log likelihood ratios (LLRs) provide data decisions for the KF. Decoder extrinsic LLRs are similarly incorporated into the detector LLRs to yield improved priors for decoding. Error rate simulations of the overall modem are provided for a shallow-water channel model with Ricean/Rayleigh fading.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / Direct-Sequence Spread-Spectrum (DS-SS) is among the preferred modulation techniques for military applications. DS-SS offers three greatly desired characteristics. It allows for the development of Low Probability of Detection (LPD) and Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) systems and has a very good performance in fading channels. This thesis investigates the performance of the "Cross-Product RV (CRV) decomposition" as the basis of blind-equalization algorithms. The CRV is a rank-revealing decomposition alternative to the Eigenvalue Decomposition (EVD) that can provide a recursively updated estimate of the signal and noise subspace at a reduced computational cost. The CRV updating algorithm is implemented in MATLAB and evaluated in a previously proposed communication scheme intended for use in an underwater acoustic network called Seaweb. The underwater channel is modeled with the Monterey-Miami Parabolic Equation Model (MMPE) for various multipath perturbations. The receiver performance is examined using Monte Carlo simulation. Bit-error rates versus signal-to-noise ratio are presented for various, noise assumptions, and receiver synchronization assumptions. / Lieutenant, Hellenic Navy

This research concerns the continuing development of Seaweb underwater networking. In this type of wireless network the radio channel is replaced by an underwater acoustic channel which is strongly dependent on the physical properties of the ocean medium and its boundaries, the link geometry and the ambient noise. Traditional acoustic communications have involved a priori matching of the signaling parameters (e.g., frequency band, source level, modulation type, coding pulse length) to the expected characteristics of the channel. To achieve more robust communications among the nodes of the acoustic network, as well as high quality of service, it is necessary to develop a type of adaptive modulation in the acoustic network. Part of this process involves estimating the channel scattering function in terms of impulse response, the Doppler effects, and the link margin. That is possible with the use of a known probe signal for analyzing the response of the channel. The estimated channel scattering function can indicate the optimum signaling parameters for the link (adaptive modulation). This approach is also effective for time varying channels, including links between mobile nodes, since the channel characteristics can be updated each time we send a probe signal.

The U.S. Navy is developing through-water acoustic communications capability for undersea, distributed systems. These wireless communication links form a wide-area network of fixed nodes consistent with future autonomous sensors on the seafloor. Mobile nodes may operate in the domain of the grid using the fixed nodes as both navigation reference points and communication access points. This thesis evaluates the experimental performance of such networked communications between an undersea vehicle and a ship. Physical-layer considerations include refraction, wind-induced ambient noise, and vehicle aspect angle.

Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited / Littoral waters when compared to the open ocean create an environment of greater reverberation with acoustic energy scattering from the sea surface, bottom, topographic features, and regions that lack homogeneity within the volume. If the ocean surface is rough on the scale of an acoustic wavelength, considerable scattering can occur that can significantly influence coherent propagation. Because the rough surface is also evolving dynamically, such scattering can introduce Doppler shifting and spreading of the acoustic pulse spectrum. This thesis builds upon prior efforts in ocean acoustic modeling and is focused on examining surface scattering and its affect upon coherent propagation. The dynamics/physics associated with surface scattering are explored in detail and mathematical relationships are developed and employed in revisions to the Monterey Miami Parabolic Equation (MMPE) model. The thesis provides background information associated with the MMPE and highlights earlier work related to surface scattering. It presents a formal analysis of an exact surface scattering approach in the context of a continuous wave (CW) benchmark exercise and the Doppler shifts associated with a dynamic rough surface. It expands on prior rough sea surface work to include modeling based on an empirical fetch-limited ocean wave spectrum and compares modeling results with measured data. Interest in broadband pulse propagation in shallow water is increasing with the need for improved active sonar systems and with the growth of applications such as underwater acoustic communications. / Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport

The overall objective of this work is to evaluate the ability of homing and docking an unmanned underwater vehicle (Hydroid REMUS 100 UUV) to a moving unmanned surface vehicle (Wave-Adaptive Modular Surface Vehicle USV) using a Hydroid Digital Ultra-Short Baseline (DUSBL) acoustic positioning system (APS), as a primary navigation source. An understanding of how the UUV can rendezvous with a stationary USV first is presented, then followed by a moving USV. Inherently, the DUSBL-APS is susceptible to error due to the physical phenomena of the underwater acoustic channel (e.g. ambient noise, attenuation and ray refraction). The development of an APS model has allowed the authors to forecast the UUV’s position and the estimated track line of the USV as determined by the DUSBL acoustic sensor. In this model, focus is placed on three main elements: 1) the acoustic channel and sound ray refraction when propagating in an in-homogeneous medium; 2) the detection component of an ideal DUSBL-APS using the Neyman-Pearson criterion; 3) the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and receiver directivity impact on position estimation. The simulation tool is compared against actual open water homing results in terms of the estimated source position between the simulated and the actual USBL range and bearing information. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

As diverse and data-heavy underwater applications emerge, demanding requirements are further imposed on underwater wireless communication systems. Future underwater wireless communication networks might consist of both mobile and stationary nodes which exchange data such as control, telemetry, speech, and video signals among themselves as well as a central node located at a ship or onshore. The submerged nodes, which can, for example, take the form of an autonomous underwater vehicle/robot or diver, can be equipped with various sensors, sonars, video cameras, or other types of data acquisition instruments. Innovative physical layer solutions are therefore required to develop efficient, reliable, and high-speed transmission solutions tailored for challenging and diverse requirements of underwater applications. Building on the promising combination of multi-carrier and cooperative communication techniques, this dissertation investigates the fundamental performance bounds of cooperative underwater acoustic (UWA) communication systems taking into account the inherent unique characteristics of the UWA channel. We derive outage probability and capacity expressions for cooperative multi-carrier UWA systems with amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward relaying. Through the derived expressions, we demonstrate the effect of several system and channel parameters on the performance. Furthermore, we investigate the performance of cooperative UWA systems in the presence of non-uniform Doppler distortion and propose receiver designs to mitigate the degrading Doppler effects.