Under water data communication (UwDCOM)

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.