Abstract:
Mariners all over the world use various types of platforms for transportation of men and
material. The safe operation of ships at sea depends on the efficiency and performance of
sensors fitted on these platforms. The sensors mainly include radar, sonar and
communication equipment. Underwater data communication system will find
applications in oceanographic data collection, pollution monitoring, offshore exploration,
disaster prevention, diving, assisted navigation and tactical surveillance applications.
Moreover, in near future unmanned or autonomous underwater vehicles (UUVs, AUVs),
equipped with sensors, will help the researchers to exploit the rich natural resources
buried under the depth of oceans.
The Data communication system contains software GUI developed in C# that will be
used for messaging, locally built modem circuitry to generate voltage signals and finally
a transducer to transmit the signal underwater. On reception end a similar transducer to
receive sound waves signal for converting it back into an equivalent electrical signal. The
modem will convert this into a digital signal to be displayed on the GUI at the receiver
end. The hardware in this system involves both the design and development of the
acoustic modem circuitry. The eventual aim is production of a cheap, low power acoustic
modem for real-time data collection and transmission in marine environment.
