SummaryNowadays, multiple input multiple outputs with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO‐OFDM) provide better communication performance that can be applied to the fast‐growing Internet of Things (IoTs). In underwater IoT, information fades away rapidly due to varying water conditions. Therefore, the MIMO model can be applied to the OFDM acoustic system, enabling high‐speed data transmission without affecting the channel effectively. However, detecting the underwater signal and estimating the channel is highly necessary for enhancing underwater acoustic communication (UWAC). Recently, many techniques have been introduced for effectively performing signal detection and channel estimation. However, those techniques face high time complexity due to increased channel interferences and noises during data transmission. Hence, this article brings a novel technique for SD and CE for the UWAC‐IoT‐enabled MIMO‐OFDM system. An adaptive recursive least square (ARLS) technique is proposed in this study for CE that aids in evaluating the acoustic channel parameters effectively. For performing SD, a bi‐directional deep pelican convolutional neural network (BDPCNN) technique is introduced to ensure the presence and absence of signals at the receiver end. The proposed method is analyzed via the MATLAB platform, and the performances are analyzed under different water types like turbid water, coastal water, clear ocean water, and pure seawater. Different performance metrics like bit error rate (BER), mean square error (MSE), energy efficiency (EE), and time complexity are analyzed with different existing techniques. The experimental section obtains the BER of 0.0086, 0.013, 0.017, and 0.021 for turbid, coastal, clear, and pure seawater, respectively.