Optical Engineering 49 1 , 015001 January 2010

Underwater optical wireless communication network

Shlomi Arnon, MEMBER SPIE Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Satellite and Wireless Communications Laboratory P.O. Box 653 Beer-Sheva, IL-84105, Israel E-mail: shlomi@ee.bgu.ac.il Abstract. The growing need for underwater observation and subsea monitoring systems has stimulated considerable interest in advancing the enabling technologies of underwater wireless communication and underwater sensor networks. This communication technology is expected to play an important role in investigating climate change, in monitoring biological, biogeochemical, evolutionary, and ecological changes in the sea, ocean, and lake environments, and in helping to control and maintain oil production facilities and harbors using unmanned underwater vehicles UUVs , submarines, ships, buoys, and divers. However, the present technology of underwater acoustic communication cannot provide the high data rate required to investigate and monitor these environments and facilities. Optical wireless communication has been proposed as the best alternative to meet this challenge. Models are presented for three kinds of optical wireless communication links: a a line-of-sight link, b a modulating retroreector link, and c a reective link, all of which can provide the required data rate. We analyze the link performance based on these models. From the analysis, it is clear that as the water absorption increases, the communication performance decreases dramatically for the three link types. However, by using the scattered light it was possible to mitigate this decrease in some cases. It is concluded from the analysis that a high-data-rate underwater optical wireless network is a feasible solution for emerging applications such as UUV-to-UUV links and networks of sensors, and extended ranges in these applications could be achieved by applying a multi-hop concept.
2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. DOI: 10.1117/1.3280288

Subject terms: optical communication; underwater; subsea; FSO; ocean. Paper 090580PR received Jul. 30, 2009; revised manuscript received Nov. 8, 2009; accepted for publication Nov. 11, 2009; published online Jan. 15, 2010. This paper is a revision of a paper presented at the SPIE conference on Free-Space Laser Communications IX, August 2009, San Diego, California. The paper presented there appears unrefereed in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7464.

Introduction

The present technology of acoustic underwater communication is a legacy technology that provides low-data-rate transmissions for medium-range communication. Data rates of acoustic communication are restricted to around tens of thousands of kilobits per second for ranges of a kilometer, and less than a thousand kilobits per second for ranges up to 100 km, due to severe, frequency-dependent attenuation and surface-induced pulse spread.14 In addition, the speed of acoustic waves in the ocean is approximately 1500 m / s, so that long-range communication involves high latency, which poses a problem for real-time response, synchronization, and multiple-access protocols. As a result, the network topology is simple and goodput is low. In addition, acoustic waves could distress marine mammals such as dolphins and whales. As a result, acoustic technology cannot satisfy emerging applications that require around the clock, high-data-rate communication networks in real time. Examples of such applications are networks of sensors for the investigation of climate change; monitoring biological, biogeochemical, evolutionary, and ecological processes in sea,
0091-3286/2010/$25.00 2010 SPIE

ocean, and lake environments; and unmanned underwater vehicles UUVs used to control and maintain oil production facilities and harbors Fig. 1 . An alternative means of underwater communication is based on optics, wherein

Fig. 1 The line-of-sight communication scenario.

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Arnon: Underwater optical wireless communication network

high data rates are possible. However, the distance between the transmitter and the receiver must be short, due to the extremely challenging underwater environment, which is characterized by high multiscattering and absorption. Multiscattering causes the optical pulse to widen in the spatial, temporal, angular, and polarization domains. Although high data rates are threatened by extremely high absorption and scattering, there is evidence that broadband links can be achieved over moderate ranges. Hanson and Radic5 demonstrated 1-Gbit/ s transmissions in a laboratory experiment with a simulated aquatic medium with scattering characteristics similar to oceanic waters. Cochenour, Mullen, and Laux6 measure both the spatial and temporal effects of scattering on a laser link in turbid underwater environments. Using Monte Carlo simulations and measurement results, they predict longer-range underwater free-space optical performance with bandwidths greater than 5 GHz for a range of 64 m in clear ocean water, dropping to 1 GHz for a range of 8 m in turbid harbor water. The authors of Refs. 7 and 8 examine the fundamental physics and natural variability of underwater optical attenuation and discuss the design issues of underwater optical communications associated with oceanic physics and parameter variability. In Ref. 9 the authors examine the potential of subsea free-space optics for sensor network applications, leveraging the emerging technologies of highly sensitive photon-counting detectors and semiconductor LED and laser light sources in the solar blind UV. The authors of Ref. 10 propose to use retroreecting free-space optical links in water, which allow much of the weight and power payload of the system to be located at one end. Arnon and Kedar11 propose a novel non-line-of-sight network concept in which the optical link is implemented by means of back reection of the propagating optical signal at the ocean-air interface, which could help to overcome obstructions. In Ref. 12 the possibility of a wireless sensor network concept dubbed optical plankton is described and evaluated. The paper by Jaruwatanadilok13 presents the modeling of an underwater wireless optical communication channel using the vector radiative transfer theory. The vector radiative transfer equation captures the multiple scattering in natural water, and also includes the polarization of light. I present models of three kinds of optical wireless communication: a a line-of-sight link, b a modulating retroreector link, and c a reective link, all of which can provide the required data rate. I also present performance analyses based on these models. From the analyses it is clear that as the water absorption increases due to changes in water turbidity, the communication performance decreases dramatically for all three link types, but the modulated retroreector link is the most affected. However, the absorption coefcient increases more moderately than does the water turbidity. We conclude from the analysis that a high-data-rate underwater optical wireless network is a feasible solution for emerging applications such as UUV-toUUV links and networks of sensors. Extended ranges in these applications could be achieved by applying a multihop concept. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the properties of the underwater optical wireless communication channel. Section 3 presents the
Optical Engineering

Extinction coefficient (m-1)

Clean Ocean Coastal Ocean Turbid Harbor 0.15 0.30 2.19

Fig. 2 Absorption, scattering, and extinction coefcients for four types of waterpure sea water, clean ocean water, coastal ocean water, and turbid harbor waterat 520-nm wavelength.

communication link models. Section 4 contains a discussion and a numerical example. Finally, Sec. 6 summarizes our results. The Properties of the Underwater Optical Wireless Communication Channel Light pulses propagating in aquatic medium suffer from attenuation and broadening in the spatial, angular, temporal, and polarization domains. The attenuation and broadening are wavelength dependent and result from absorption and multiscattering of light by water molecules and by marine hydrosols mineral and organic matter . The extinction coefcient c of the aquatic medium is governed by the absorption and scattering coefcients , respectively, and we have9 and c = + . 1 2

Figure 2 depicts the absorption, scattering, and extinction coefcients for four types of waterpure sea water, clean ocean water, coastal ocean water, and turbid harbor waterat 520-nm wavelength.6,10,14 It is clear that an increase in the turbidity dramatically increases the extinction coefcient, from less than 0.1 m1 for pure water up to more than 2 m1 for turbid harbor water. However, the absorption coefcient increases more moderately than does the turbidity. The propagation loss factor as a function of wavelength and distance z is given by Lpr ,z = exp c z . 2

3 Communication Link Models We now consider three types of communication links: the line of sight, the modulating retroreector, and the reective. In addition, we perform a bit error rate BER calculation.
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Arnon: Underwater optical wireless communication network

PR los = PT

T RLpr

d cos

ARec cos . d tan 0 2

3.2 Modulating Retroreector Communication Link The modulating retroreector link10 is used when one party for example, a submarine has more resources another one for example, a diver , as in Fig. 3 b . In this case, the submarine has more energy, payload, and lifting capacity than the diver. Therefore it would be wise to put most of the complexity and power requirement of the communication system into the submarine. In a modulating retroreector link, the interrogator sits at one end in our case, in the submarine , and a small modulating optical retroreector sits at the remote end. In operation, the interrogator illuminates the retroreecting end of the link with a continuouswave beam. The retroreector inactively reects this beam back to the interrogator while modulating the information on it. The received power in this scenario is given by PR Retro = PT
T Rec RetroLpr

, ,

2d cos

ARetro cos 2 d2 1 cos

ARec cos d tan 0retro

where Retro is the optical efciency of the retroreector, is the angle between the perpendicular to the receiver plane and the transmitter-receiver trajectory, ARetro is the retroreectors aperture area, and 0retro is the retroreectors beam divergence angle.
Fig. 3 a The line-of-sight communication scenario. b The modulating retroreector communication scenario. c The reection communication scenario.

3.1 Line-of-Sight Communication Link The most common link between two points in optical wireless communication systems is a line-of-sight LOS link as illustrated in Fig. 3 a . In this scenario, the transmitter directs the light beam in the direction of the receiver. The optical signal reaching the receiver is obtained by multiplying the transmitter power, telescope gain, and losses and is given by Ref. 11 as d cos ARec cos 2 d2 1 cos

PR los = PT

T RLpr

,
0

3.3 Reective Communication Link In some communication scenarios the line of sight is not available due to obstructions, misalignment, or random orientation of the transceivers.11 To address this problem a reective communication link could be used. In this case, the laser transmitter emits a cone of light, dened by inner and outer angles min and max, in the upward direction Fig. 3 c . Here i and t are the angles of incidence and of transmission, respectively. The latter is derived from the former using Snells law. The light reaching the ocean-air surface illuminates an annular area and is partially bounced back in accordance with the reectivity. Since the refractive index of air is lower than that of water, total internal reection TIR can be achieved above a critical incidence angle. When the transmitter is at depth h, the illuminated annular surface with equal power density at depth x is given by Aann = 2 h+x h+x
2 2

1 cos cos

max

1 + cos
max

min

where PT is the average transmitter optical power, T is the optical efciency of the transmitter, R is the optical efciency of the receiver, d is the perpendicular distance between the transmitter and the receiver plane, is the angle between the perpendicular to the receiver plane and the transmitter-receiver trajectory, ARec is the receiver aperture area, and 0 is the laser beam divergence angle. When the transmitter beam divergence angle is very narrow / 20 , Eq. 3 can be approximated as 0
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=2

min cos

Equation 6 describes an annular area taken from a sphere of radius h + x, which would have uniform power density in free space. If we model the ocean-air surface as smooth, then = i, and we can derive the link budget by using the variables dened in Eq. 3 . Then we can dene the auxiliary function and calculate the received power as
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Arnon: Underwater optical wireless communication network

2 2

f R ref

PT cos = Aann

RLpr

h+x 1 cos 2

tan tan

t+
t

sin sin

t t

min

c,

T RLpr

h+x , , cos

7
c max .

At the plane of the receiving sensor, node coverage is provided within an annular area bounded by radii h + x tan min and h + x tan max. Equation 7 can be simplied on the assumption that the receiver aperture is small relative to h + x, yielding the approximate received power as PR ref ARec f R ref . 8

3.4 Bit Error Rate Calculation The simplest and most widespread modulation technique in optical wireless communication is intensity-modulation, direct-detection on-off keying OOK . In this technique, the receiver is based on the emerging technology of silicon photomultipliers SiPMs .15 These photodetector devices are fabricated in the form of arrays of photodiodes that are operated in Geiger mode to create a photon-counting device. If we assume that a large number of photons are received, then according to the central limit theorem, the Poisson distribution can be approximated by a Gaussian distribution and the BER is given by11 BER = 1 erfc 2 r 1T r 0T 2 r 1T
1/2

+ r 2T

1/2

Here r1 = rd + rbg + rs and r0 = rd + rbg, where rd and rbg represent the sources of additive noise due to dark counts and background illumination, respectively, and erfc = 2 exp
2

the receiver results in a considerably higher photon count for a given sensor node separation than a reective or retroreector link. For instance, for a node separation of 30 m, 8,000 photons would be received from a signal in a LOS link, 2 photons would be received from a retroreector link, and only 10 would be received in a reective link where the transmitter depth is 20 m and the receiving nodes are also at a depth of 20 m. However, if a single point-to-point link were to fail, the transmitted signal would be lost, while in the reective underwater network solution a number of nodes would be expected to receive the signal. Even in the severe case where several nodes fail, with sufcient node redundancy there would still be additional nodes that could relay the signal further. In Fig. 5 we can see that BER values of 104 are obtained for a reective link when the node separation is 40 m, while a BER of 104 could be achieved in a LOS link and a retroreector link when the node separation is 60 m and 50 m, respectively. From this result it is easy to understand that acceptable BER performance could be achieved for short ranges on the order of tens of meters for all three models. In Fig. 6 we compare the numbers of photons received for a link operated in turbid harbor water for two cases: a when only absorption is considered and b when absorption and scattering are considered. From this gure it is easy to see that in the absorption case the number of received photons reduces from 105 to 1 for increases in distance separation from 1 to 65 m, while in the case of ab-

d .

10

4 Discussion and Numerical Example The three types of link models could be used to design sophisticated networks. It is clear that line of sight using narrow beam divergence provides the maximum range; however, in this case the precise locations of the two platforms are required. On the other hand, when it is required to simultaneously broadcast for example from a submarine to several platforms UUVs or divers, for example , the best option is to use LOS with a wide beam divergence. However, if obstructions between the two platforms block the line of sight, a reective communication link is preferred. When one party has more resources than the other one in the link, the modulated retroreector is the best option. In this section we simulate the performance of the three links, using practical values for clean ocean water with an extinction coefcient of 0.15 m1. The values of the simulation parameters are given in Table 1. It is evident from Fig. 4 that a single LOS underwater link using a pulsemodulated laser transmitter and a SiPM detector array in
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Fig. 4 Graph showing number of received photons as a function of transmitter-receiver separation for clean ocean water with extinction coefcient equal to 0.15 m1.

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Arnon: Underwater optical wireless communication network Table 1 Parameters used in numerical calculations. We assume retro is much greater than the diffraction-limited divergence angle. Parameter Extinction coefcient, clear ocean m1 Refractive index Critical angle deg Transmission wavelength nm Optical efciency of retroreector Optical efciency of transmitter Optical efciency of receiver Average transmitter power W Pulse duration ns Data rate Mbit/s Receiver aperture area m2 Retroreector aperture area m2 Retroreector beam divergence deg Laser beam divergence angle Transmitter inclination angles deg Dark counting rate MHz Background counting rate MHz Counting efciency % Transmitter depth h m Receiver depth x m
0 retro

Typical value 0.1514

1.33643 48.44 532 0.9 0.9 0.9 10 1 0.5 0.01 0.01 10 Fig. 5 Graph showing BER as a function of transmitter-receiver separation for clean ocean water with extinction coefcient equal to 0.15 m1.

deg
max

68 0, 68

min,

1 1 16 20 20

transceiver and an acoustical transceiver. A hybrid communication system can provide high-data-rate transmission by using the optical transceiver. When the water turbidity is high or the distance between the terminals is large, the system can switch to a low data rate using the acoustic transceiver, thereby increasing the average data rate and availability. However, the complexity and cost of the system are increased. In this kind of system, smart buffering and prioritization could help to mitigate short-term data rate reduction. Many aspects of the proposed system remain to be investigated; for example, rigorous modeling of the reective nature of the ocean-air surface, including ocean surface roughness, as well as solar radiance penetration. Extensive studies should be made of the nature of multiple scattering in different oceanic channels and the limitation of the

sorption and scattering the number of received photons reduces from 105 to 1 for increases in distance separation from 1 to 8 m This result indicates that receiving more scattered light and performing the required signal processing in the time domain could dramatically improve the performance of an optical wireless system in turbid water. 5 Summary and Conclusions The results presented indicate that networks based on underwater optical wireless links are feasible at high data rates for medium distances, up to a hundred meters. Such networks could serve subsea wireless mobile users. In addition, by placing multiple relay nodes between the chief network nodes, messages could traverse very long distances despite severe medium-induced limitations on the transmission ranges of individual links. Additional improvements to the availability of the network could be achieved by a hybrid communication system that would include an optical
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Fig. 6 Graph showing number of received photons for line-of-sight scenario as a function of transmitter-receiver separation for two cases: absorption and extinction.

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Arnon: Underwater optical wireless communication network

modulating retroreector range due to light backscattered into the receiver before reaching the retroreector. Some seminal theory necessary to describe spatial spreading of an optical beam in the presence of scattering agents under water was presented in Ref. 16. Future work on these subjects should rene the analysis and yield more accurate numerical results. Additional open issues to be addressed at higher layers of the network design include multiple access, such as wavelength division multiplexing WDM at blue-green wavelengths, and code division multiple access CDMA or clustering. However, the fundamental concept has been shown to be feasible and practical. References
1. I. F. Akyildiz, D. Pompili, and T. Melodia, Underwater acoustic sensor networks: research challenges, Ad Hoc Networks 3 3 , 255 256 2005 . 2. J. Heidemann, W. Ye, J. Wills, A. Syed, and Y. Li, Research challenges and applications for underwater sensor networking, in Proc. IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conf., pp. 228235 2006 . 3. T. Dickey, M. Lewis, and G. Chang, Optical oceanography; recent advances and future directions using global remote sensing and in situ observations, Rev. Geophys. 44 1 , RG1001 2006 . 4. C. Detweiller, I. Vasilescu, and D. Rus, AquaNodes: an underwater sensor network, in Proc. Second Int. Workshop on Underwater Networks, pp. 8588, IEEE 2007 . 5. F. Hanson and S. Radic, High bandwidth underwater optical communication, Appl. Opt. 47 2 , 277283 2008 . 6. B. Cochenour, L. Mullen, and A. Laux, Spatial and temporal dispersion in high bandwidth underwater laser communication links, in Proc. IEEE Military Communications Conf., pp. 17 2008 . 7. J. H. Smart, Underwater optical communication systems part 1: variability of water optical parameters, in Proc. IEEE Military Communications Conf., pp. 11401146 2005 . 8. J. W. Giles and I. N. Bankman, Underwater optical communications systems part 2: basic design considerations, in Proc. IEEE Military Communications Conf., pp. 11401146 2005 . 9. D. Kedar and S. Arnon, Subsea ultraviolet solar-blind broadband free-space optics communication, Opt. Eng. 48 4 , 046001 2009 . 10. L. Mullen, B. Cochenour, W. Rabinovich, R. Mahon, and J. Muth, Backscatter suppression for underwater modulating retroreector links using polarization discrimination, Appl. Opt. 48 2 , 328337 2009 . 11. S. Arnon and D. Kedar, Non-line-of-sight underwater optical wireless communication network, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 26 3 , 530539 2009 . 12. D. Kedar and S. Arnon, Optical plankton: an optical oceanic probing

scheme, J. Appl. Remote Sensing 1, 013541 2007 . 13. S. Jaruwatanadilok, Underwater wireless optical communication channel modeling and performance evaluation using vector radiative transfer theory, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun. 26 9 , 16201627 2008 . 14. R. P. Bukata, J. H. Jerome, K. Y. Kondratyev, and D. V. Pozdnyakov, Optical Properties and Remote Sensing of Inland and Coastal Waters, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 1995 . 15. P. Eraerds, M. Legre, A. Rochas, H. Zbinden, and N. Gisin, SiPM for fast photon-counting and multiphoton detection, Opt. Express 15 22 , 1453914549 2007 . 16. B. M. Cochenour, L. J. Mullen, and A. E. Laux, Characterization of the beam-spread function for underwater wireless optical communications links, IEEE J. Ocean. Eng. 33 4 , 513521 2008 . Shlomi Arnon is a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ben-Gurion University, Israel. There, in 2000, he established the Satellite and Wireless Communication Laboratory, which has been under his directorship since then. During 19981999 Professor Arnon was a postdoctoral associate Fulbright Fellow at LIDS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT , Cambridge, USA. His research has produced more than fty journal papers in the area of satellite, optical, and wireless communication. During part of the summer of 2007, he worked at TU/e and Philips Lab, Eindhoven, Nederland, on a novel concept of a dual communication and illumination system. He was a visiting professor during the summer of 2008 at TU Delft, Nederland. Professor Arnon is a frequent invited speaker and program committee member at major IEEE and SPIE conferences in the USA and Europe. He was an associate editor for the Optical Society of Americas Journal of Optical Networks for a special issue on optical wireless communication that appeared in 2006, and is now on the editorial board for the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications for a special issue on optical wireless communication. Professor Arnon continuously takes part in many national and international projects in the areas of satellite communication, remote sensing, and cellular and mobile wireless communication. He consults regularly with start-up and well-established companies in optical, wireless, and satellite communication. In addition to research, Professor Arnon and his students work on many challenging engineering projects with especial emphasis on the humanitarian dimension. For instance, a longstanding project has dealt with developing a system to detect human survival after earthquakes, with an infant respiration monitoring system to prevent cardiac arrest and apnea, and with detection of falls in the case of epilepsy sufferers and elderly people.

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