Channel Modeling for Underwater Acoustic Network Simulation

Abstract

This manuscript was submitted to IEEE Access on 12 Jun 2020.<div><br></div><div>Abstract:</div><div><br></div><div>Simulation forms an important part of the development and empirical evaluation of underwater acoustic network (UAN) protocols. The key feature of a credible network simulation model is a realistic channel model. A common approach to simulating realistic underwater acoustic (UWA) channels is by using specialised beam tracing software such as BELLHOP. However, BELLHOP and similar modeling software typically require knowledge of ocean acoustics and a substantial programming effort from UAN protocol designers to integrate it into their research. In this paper, we bridge the gap between low level channel modeling via beam tracing and automated channel modeling, e.g. via the World Ocean Simulation System (WOSS), by providing a distilled UWA channel modeling tutorial from the network protocol design point of view. The tutorial is accompanied by our MATLAB simulation code that interfaces with BELLHOP to produce channel data for UAN simulations. As part of the tutorial, we describe two methods of incorporating such channel data into network simulations, including a case study for each of them: 1) directly importing the data as a look-up table, 2) using the data to create a statistical channel model. The primary aim of this paper is to provide a useful learning resource and modeling tool for UAN protocol researchers. Initial insights into the UAN protocol design and performance provided by the statistical channel modeling approach presented in this paper demonstrate its potential as a powerful modeling tool for future UAN research.<br></div>

Low Complexity Single Carrier Frequency Domain Detectors for Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT)s

“…Both arrival rates are assumed to be same for each hop. Typically, the underwater acoustic channel is quasi-static [32,33]. This means that the fading coefficient, q k u,l , and the delay, τ k u,l , remain the same during one transmission burst, but then may change between bursts.…”

Green Underwater Wireless Communications Using Hybrid Optical-Acoustic Technologies

“…Ambient underwater noise affecting water acoustics can be categorized according to the frequency range in which their effects are most prominent. Based on the works [39] and [43], a generic ambient (but not site-specific) noise model can be approximated from the common sources of noise using Gaussian statistics and a continuous power spectral density (PSD). These noise sources are described as follows [44]:…”

Adaptable Underwater Networks: The Relation between Autonomy and Communications

“…Figure 4 shows how the spatial distribution of the UWA channel quality may vary, depending on the SSP and the location of the source in the water column. The contour plots show the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) computed using the channel modelling framework described in [28] based on BELLHOP beam tracing [29] with randomly generated surface waves and the January and July SSPs from Figure 3b. The outputs of BELLHOP were post-processed using a 24 kHz centre frequency and 7.2 kHz bandwidth, i.e., representative of typical wideband UWA transmissions [30], by integrating the absorption loss for every traced multipath component across the whole frequency band to yield the wideband received signal power (see [28]).…”

“…The contour plots show the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) computed using the channel modelling framework described in [28] based on BELLHOP beam tracing [29] with randomly generated surface waves and the January and July SSPs from Figure 3b. The outputs of BELLHOP were post-processed using a 24 kHz centre frequency and 7.2 kHz bandwidth, i.e., representative of typical wideband UWA transmissions [30], by integrating the absorption loss for every traced multipath component across the whole frequency band to yield the wideband received signal power (see [28]). The SNR values were computed by dividing the wideband received signal power by the noise power calculated using the ambient UWA noise model in [31], assuming 10 m/s wind speed, 0.5 shipping activity factor, 24 kHz centre frequency and 7.2 kHz bandwidth.…”