Deep-Ocean Tests of an Acoustic Modem

Insensitive to Mult1path Distortion

Winfield Hill, Gerald Chaplin, David Nergaard

Sea Data, Inc., A Pacer Systems Company

1 Bridge Street, Newton, Massachusetts, 02158

Abstract
The concept, design and ocean testing of a new low-power
acoustic modem is presented. The telemetry system employs a novel "chirp" frequency sweep and has other features to allow operation in the presence of multi path interference. The chirp system uses fsk data modulation and
performs a carrier sweep starting at 9 or 31kHz, depending upon the model, to obtain the benefits of frequency
diversity without requiring a frequency synthesizer, multiple filters or a FFT analyzer. Intended for retrofittable to
existing instruments, the new system is designed for use in
the deep ocean and the continental shelf over distances to
6km. Ocean tests were performed in about 4000 meters of
water using the low frequency version. Additional shalIowwater tests are planned, including a typical harbor.
ocean

acoustic telemetry

frequency diversity

modem

multipath
chirp

1. Introduction
Real-time observation of data is a commonly desired capability which is not commonly available in undersea oceanographic instruments. Although convenience and peace-ofmind may be occaisional motivations for these desires, strong
arguments have been made for the value of this capability(1).
These include use in real-time operational systems, multiyear deployments (where it's impractical to wait until the
end for the data), performance monitoring, repair flexibility and expendible instrumentation. We report here on the
design and initial ocean tests of a new chirp acoustic telemetry method, which has simplicity and reliability properties
desirable for fitting acoustic telemetry data links to existing
undersea instrument designs.

2. Background - Ocean Acoustic Telemetry

Underwater sound travelling a substantial distance in the
sea suffers from severe amplitude fluctuations and phase
distortion. Acoustic temporal incoherence may by caused
CH2585-8/88/0000- 275

~H(eLJ.I~~~

\e:E:e {MfS

by multiple sound pathways, bottom and surface scattering

and moving inhomogeneities in the ocean(2). However the
repeated observation of such degradation has obscured the
fact that sound transmission quality over direct vertical or
slanted pathways (other than in a sound channel) may be
quite good(3).
Kearney and Laufer(4) demonstrated this point while delivering a paper at Oceans '84, by playing a cassette tape
recording of voice and music transmitted from 1500 meters depth to a shipboard recorder; my memory -is that the
primary degradation was due to the use of a very poor cassette recorder. Designers of acoustic high-resolution postioning systems have long taken advantage of good directtransmission paths by detecting the arrival of short acou;tic
pulses using narrow-band (Q > 30) filters(5). When used
at low frequencies (10kHz), these positioning systems require several milliseconds of phase coherence in the leading
edge of the pulse. Short-range 400m) acoustic telemetry
systems have been constructed(6,7) using simple frequencyshift keying (fsk) modulation in the expectation of a reliable
acoustic path, with some success. One system transmits at
the very slow rate of 1 bit-per-second(8) to achieve up to a
1000m range.

2.1 Multipath. Despite the good quality of a direct path

or reliable-acoustic-path signal transmission channel, most
practical underwater acoustic systems must contend with
strong undesired signals scattered from the surface or the
bottom. This is especially true when one of the acoustic
transducers is near the ocean surface. Superimposing the
surface-scattered signals upon the direct-path signal causes
fading and phase instabilities, possibly including complete
cancellation of the desired signal for a few milliseconds from
destructive interference. Therefore, a pulsed one- or twofrequency signal, which begins with good receive quality,
deteriorates as multi path interference arrives.
As an example of simple two-frequency fsk telemetry performance when surface and bottom scatter have a strong
influence, consider the experiences of Ryerson at Sandia
Labs(6). Transmission from a 10m subsurface buoy with
a slant range of 180 to 280 meters to a surface buoy was
desired. Water depth was 200 meters. Optimum performance was obtained only after a variety of system-tuning
<;; 1

.l)

1988 IEEE

CoJ(;\-e~a,

OCellV\S '

66

changes were made. Operating frequencies were selected

(near 50kHz) to reduce transducer backside and side-lobe
response and to attenuate long, multiple-reflection paths.
In mid-experiment, the receive transducer depth was increased by one meter. Also, lower error rates were achieved
with a -12dB power change (0.6 watts instead of the design
level of 10 watts). An 85 to 90% success rate was achieved.

I-we

+ ..;h 2 + [(h -

h-d
d) tanA - dtanBj2 - - cos A

(2a)
where d is the receive transducer depth, h is the transmitter
depth, A is the transmitting slant angle, B is the scatteredsignal receive angle (both angles are measured from the
vertical) and e is the speed of sound in seawater, about
1.5m/ms. The surface watch-circle radius (we) is related
to the slant angle by we = (h - d) tan A. If the watch circle
radius is known instead of the slant angle A, equation (2a)
can be written:

Pd = _d_
cosB

+ Jh2 + (we -

dtan B)2 - J(h - d)2

(2c)

The first delayed surface-scatter multipath arrival occurs

at Td = 2d/e, when the arrival angle B = 0 (surface angle
= 90), followed by more sound arriving for B > O. The
first arrival delay is about 27ms for a receive hydrophone
depth of 20m.

After the first multipath arrival, sound travelling longer

paths continues to arrive for a substantial period of time;
this additional sound constitutes most of the multipath interference. Some of the sound has travelled very complex
pathways, involving volume scatter as well. Although the
multipath signals suffer surface-scattering losses(!6) of 10 to
20dB, the beneficial effects of these losses are reduced by
,he large area of the surface. The desirable losses are further reduced during high sea-state conditions, when acoustic surface scattering increases (e.g. see the backscattering
curves in ref 15 p. 264). However, for frequencies above
20kHz (e.g. 33kHz), wind velocities above 10 to 15 m/s
may actually cause reduced surface-scatter sound due to
sound attenuation by small-bubble populatio~ in the top
5 meters of the ocean(!7).

(1)

cos

and we

Pd = _d_ +. Ih2 + (dtanBp - (h - d)

cos B Y '

2.2 Surface Multipath. A common surface-path situation is illustrated in figure 1. The offending surfacescattered (backside arrival) signals clearly travel a longer
path than the direct path signal and therefore take a longer
time to arrive. The earliest-arriving scattered signals take
an extra delay time (Td) to travel an extra path delay (Pd )
as follows:

d
Pd = - B

=0

For slanted sound paths (A > 0) equation (2a) shows that

the surface-scattered first-arrival delay time is slightly faster
than for the direct overhead case; the shortest path occurs
for equal angles of incidence and scatter at the surface. As
an example, for a transmitter in 3000m of water, to a 60m
deep hydrophone at a 2000m watch circle distance, A = 34
so the surface incident angle (given by 90-A) is about 55.
Sound scattered at 55 from the surface (B = 35) will arrive with a 67ms delay (compared to 80ms for the straightbelow case). Straight-line sound travel has been assumed
throughout, even though for a slanted direct path sound
travel is actually slightly curved, due to refraction by the
sound-speed depth profile; This does not affect our conclusions.

When the transmitter is straight below (A

0), equations (2) above simplify to:

+ wc 2
(2b)

2.3 Fighting Multipath. Several methods have been suggested to reduce signal degradation by multipath interference. One is to use a transducer with high back rejection
(or use a baffle). In the 3000m example above, the first
offending sound arrived at a~ angle of 145.0 from the transducer forward direction (given by 180 - A, assuming the
transducer is pointed down). A second method is to create a highly-directive receive transducer array(18). These
approaches increase the cost of the system, are painful to
implement at low frequencies and have limited utility for a
variety of reasons. Furthermore, in shallow water, directive
sensors may not be very helpful.
Acoustic transmission in shallow water is much more difficult than in deep water, since it suffers from the existance of many strong sound pathways to the destination,

276

where Ts is the duration of the sweep and 11 and Is are

the starting and ending sweep frequency and M (t) = 0
or I according to the data bits. The modulation amplitude, 12, is chosen large enough, e.g. > 150Hz, to eliminate
doppler-shift spreading problems, which will be less than
40Hz (O.33Hz/kt per kHz).
.

involving varying numbers of surface and bottom reflections. Computer modelling(T,18) indicates that for 10kHz
transmission in 200m deep water, the Direct-to-Multipath
signal Ratio (DMR) may be as poor 88 6 dB at ranges of
less than lOOOm. Actual measurements in the ocean may
give even poorer DMR. Higher-frequency transmissions will
experience increased sea-water absorption attenuation for
the longer multiple-bounce pathways, but less than 5dB of
improvement is calculated at 50kHz, due to this effect.

If the receive frequency is accurately swept to match the

transmitter, a small receive bandwidth (constrained by the
data rate and the fsk 0,1 frequency shift) can be used, just
as in a conventional fsk system. A small bandwidth will improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) not only by rejecting
ambient noise but also by rejecting the (delayed) multipath
energy from the "old-channel" frequencies.

Frequency-diversity sound transmission methods have been

developed(9,10) to solve the multipath problem. Systems
with many frequency channels(l1,12,IS) have been proposed,
even up to 32 frequencies(H), so that the system can switch
to a new frequency before the multipath interference arrives. In a common approach, the frequencies in use are
changed every 50 to lOOms, allowing the multipath energy
to decay on the old channel. Since the decay time allowed
before a channel can be reused is proportional to the number of available frequency channels, this may well be a true
case of "more is better". Of course the telemetry system
will become more complex, but the improved results that
can be obtained in all environments are very attractive.

In a chirp telemetry system, the effective frequency-diversity

channel usage time (Tu) can be equal to the time required
for the carrier frequency sweep to change by more than the
receive bandwidth (BW), as follows:

Ts

Tu=BWI

3 -

(6)

The usage time can be easily set at under 50ms (e.g. BW

= ~OOHz, sweep 4000Hz in 650ms), allowing excellent rejection of multipath signals.
As an added benefit, the new chirp telemetry approach
can be inexpensive, compared to other frequency-diversity
methods, since multiple frequencies are not required (i.e.
no synthesizer) and receive decoding can be simplified (i.e
no multiple filters or FFT analyzer). To understand our
approach and the role of all the elements in the sweep waveform of figure 2, we'll start by considering how the receiver
works (see figure 3).

fO--~

lot-to ~III 1-

3.1 Signal Description. Because a telemetry receiver

contains many circuit elements that consume electrical power,
it's desirable to switch the power to a portion of these circuits. In the receiver design above, a number of components
are continuously powered in order to detect the arrival of
an alert signal. These are the preamp, AI, a bandpass filter, BP, the 10 detector and a power-control circuit (for our
experiment, 10 = 9.0kHz). The bandpass filter is designed
to pass signals over the entire 10 to f3 range of the system
(a double- or triple-tuned filter) and to reject intense lowfrequency noise from shipping, etc (extra LF cutoffs). The
fa energy detector operates on a principle similar to that
used by many high-resolution acoustic positioning systems
(5): an amplitude limiter (to establish constant power), a
sharp fo filter and a comparator with a time constant, work
together to determine if the fo energy present is above the
background noise adjacent to fo by a threshold amount.
When the 10 alert-tone energy is detected, the remainder
of the receiver, including the microprocessor, is turned on.

3. A New Chirp Telemetry Method

The new Sea Data chirp acoustic telemetry system is based
upon a variation of the frequency-diversity idea: use an "infinite number" of frequencies. This is achieved by sweeping the telemetry carrier frequency while applying fsk data
modulation (fig 2). The transmitted signal P(t) is a single
frequency, starting at II, and changing at a smooth rate
df /dt, plus fsk frequency shifts with amplitude 12:

= cos[w(t)t]

(3)

= 211" (11 + dt t + 12 M (t)

(4)

P(t)

w(t)

dl = Is - II
dt
Ts

After a short time, to, the transmitter shifts its frequency to

(for our test 11 = 10 + 600Hz), creating the data-trigger

(5)

II
277

BP

POWER
CONTROL

FO
DETECTOR

SWITCHEC
POWER
SWEEP
GEN

tone. This trigger tone "start pulse" is detected by the

11 energy detector (similar to the 10 energy detector) and
is used to start a sweep generator and voltage-controlled
oscillator (VeO). The resulting frequency ramp is designed
to precisely track the transmitter's sweep with a fixed offset,
hr, where frr > (13 - 10)/2 to avoid images. This ramp
frequency is the local oscillator (LO) input to a mixer, and
has a frequency, lLO , similar to equations (3) to (5) except
as follows:

fLO = f(t) = Ii

dl

+ dt t + IIr

+5

(7)

The resulting intermediate frequency (IF) output from the

mixer after IF-stage filtering is:

v(t)

= sin[27r I(t)t] + n(t)

(8)

= fIr + 12M(t)

(9)

f(t)

manner to maintain the veo output frequency near wet)

in formula (9). Further filtering of the input to the veo a varying dc voltage vet) ex wet) - along with ac-coupling
and clamping, yields the original data-stream signal, M(t).
The PLL loop filter and low-pass filtering of M(t) set the
noise bandwidth, BW, of the telemetry receiver. The receiver should be able to operate with very low SNRs, although the data error rate may not then be zew.

where n(t) is the received noise, with a noise bandwidth

given by the IF -stage bandpass. This signal is limited and
applied to a frequency discriminator to track 12' and determine whether M = 0 or 1. A data precursor time delay, tl
in fig 2, allows the circuits to settle before data discrimination must start. Also a warmup time, tw = to + t11 less the
10 detect time, is available forthe crystal in the receiver's
microprocessor to start, etc.

4. Transmitter
The transmitter (figure 4) helps illustrate the simplicity
of the chirp telemetry scheme. A few low-data-rate controllable outputs from the instrument's microprocessor are
sufficient to operate the transmitter. These outputs include
the sweep generator power control, an enable for the output
driver as soon as the veo is stable, a start pulse (SP) shifting the frequency for a data trigger, a sweep enable (SE)
and the data bit (DB) modulation signal. Another line sets
the sweep rate (SR) to allow optimizating the system for
deepsea or shallow-water use.

The frequency discriminator in fig 3 is a phase-locked loop

(PLL) circuit, which forms a tracking filter to further narrow the noise bandwidth of the receiver. The input stage
of the PLL is a limiter that responds to the strongest signal within the IF bandpass and acts to reject any weaker
signals, thereby further rejecting (quieting) unwanted multipath signals. A full-wave mixer phase-detector circuit
(exclusive-OR) and the PLL loop filter act in a
noise-insensitve
+5

0
I-.:. . =~=~=M=O=D N=A~=O=R=-_-=:?rnc~_+-,
BATTERY

SYSTEM
",p

SP SWEEP

VB

G=UE=L

II

ENABLE

TI

278

LI

R
rm

~I

At low frequencies, e.g. 10kHz, obtaining a transmit operating range of 5kHz is a challenge, due to the narrowband nature of a tuned acoustic transducer. In figure 4,
the reactive component of transducer Xl is removed using tuning coil L1, with a series resistor R1 to increase the
frequency range. In the 9 to 14kHz experiment to be described, a modified ITC type 3013 transducer (which normally has transmit-voltage-response peaks at 9 and 14kHz)
was used with a 22mHy choke and a 50 ohm damping resistor. A very acceptable calculated network output flatness
(+ 1402dB/V) was obtained over a 7.5 to 14kHz range,
and verified with pulsed measurements in the local YMCA
swimming pool. If necessary, a more complex network could
be devised. When operating the system with 5kHz sweeps
at 33kHz, using a custom-designed transducer, a damping
resistor is less important.
4.1 Power. In the deep ocean test, the output stage consisted of a pair of VMOS transistors driving a center-tapped
transformer with a regulated 12V input. This provided
about 20 watts of power into the transducer network and
yielded a modest calculated source level of + 179dB re l/LPa
at 1m, confirmed in the pool test. The current drain from
the instrument battery was less than 2A during transmission, a very acceptable level for any instrum.nt with several
,tacks of alkaline batteries.

4.2 Design Simplicity. Because I always miss the absence of electronic-circuit schematics at IEEE conferences,
I'll be sure to include one here. Figure 5 shows details of
the transmitter sweep generator and serves to further illustrate the simplicity of our new approach, while giving me
a chance to dispel any concerns over drifts, tuning, etc.

The most important component is the voltage-controlled

oscillator (VCO) chip U4, an Analog Devices AD537, which
operates at twice the transmitter output frequency. This
VCO chip creates a very stable frequency and has low
power-supply and temperature drift coefficients (0.01 %/volt
and 0.03%/10 degrees C). When used with stable components (capacitor Cl and resistor RIO are low-tc components), the AD537 may allow a circuit with lifetime factory
calibration. The VCO follows the formula I = Vs/[1O(R9
+ RlO)Cl]. Here R9 sets the exact coefficient for the VCO
frequency-programming voltage, V3 , which comes from amplifier A3 (LMIO, chosen for ImA sink capability when
Voul = 0.2V at the end of the sweep). This amplifier's
summing junction allows the telemetry system operating
parameters to be exactly ratiometrically determined by precision resistors RO, Rl and R2 according to the following
formula:

(10)

Although lower power levels may be used in practise, our

thought was to get good quality eata on the experiment
OAT tape and subsequently degrade it with noise when we
tested transmit codes and receiver designs in the lab. How~ver the higher-power energy usage is not unattractive: At
300 baud, less than 0.1 Joules per bit is required, including
alert tone, etc. Since a single stack of alkaline D-cells contains about 0.5MJ of energy, it could power about 100,000
transmissions of 50-bit data blocks.

where Fo = I/RO sets the 10 alert frequency, dF1 = I/Rl

sets the 11 - 10 data trigger frequency shift, dF2 = I/R2
sets the h fsk modulation level and dFs = 1/R3 sets the
sweep rate (and hence Is). Amplifier Al (OP-20, chosen
for low offset voltage) creates a reference I-volt above the
amplifier-reference signal (also 1 volt), so that k = R8. In
the experiment, an electronic switch selected two values of
R2 to allow two fsk modulation levels.

IK

R4

R3
R8

+1

4.99K rl

R5

SR

R6 R7
+2V
20K 165K 1%

Amplifier A2 (OP-90, chosen for low input current and offset voltage) is a ramp, which operates (when switch SE
opens) with an integration constant T =(R4+R5)C2. The
integrator uses voltage source trim R6 to allow two calibrated sweep rates according to the resistor ratio R4/R5
CI

+1
RO
RI

2f
R2

5
+1

E-......-. .- - - t

VR

279

signal strength of +99dB re 1J,LPa, near the surface, is about

16dB louder than the wind noise for 20m/s (NSL = +S8dB
at 10kHz), assuming a 300Hz receiver bandwidth (+25dB)
and an isotropic receive transducer (Dr = OdB).

and IIwitch SR. The sweep generator operates on 5.0 volts

(::::5%) supply, a.nd the entire circuit requires only two simple calibration points, yet we're able to get our "infinite"
frequ ... ncy channels.

5.1 Shallow water. Using 33kHz in shallow water at

lOoC, 3km of range will result in about -22dB of absorption
loss, assuming the actual (scattered and reflected) path is
30% longer than the range. Since the sound is in a channel
the spreading loss may be less than the -69dB value fro~
formula (11), say +lOdB for 30m water depth (2). The final system SNR is similar to the case above since NSL is a
bit lower at 33kHz. Because 3km of range in shallow water
will be subjected to severe multipath interference, the sweep
rate may increased and the data rate may be decreased to
combat this. Also, the telemetry system's processor can
easily allow using slower data rates, with 25ms dead periods in between each bit, to allow the immediate multipath
energy to decay.

5. Signal Propagation Loss, Noise, SNR

The expected signal-to-ambient-noise ratio (SNR) can be
calculated (in dB) by subtracting the speading and attenuation losses and the background noise level from the- transmitter source level:

'.

SNR = SL - 20Iog(r) - a __ - NSL -lOlog(BW) (11)

1000

where SL is the source level (dB re 1tLPa at 1 yard), corrected for the transducer directivity index, r is the range
(yards - not km), a is the seawater attenuation coefficient
(less than 1dB/km for frequencies below 15kHz), NSL is the
ambient-noise spectral level (dB re 1tLPa/v1fz"), and BW
is the receiver bandwidth (Hz). The equation assumes a
low-noise receive preamp and does not include the improvement a directive receive transducer will provide in rejecting
(wind-generated) surface ambient noise, which could exceed
6dB.

6. Sea Trial using a DAT Recorder

The experiment was performed on 16 to 17 June 1988 during cruise OC200 of the WHOI vessel R.V. Oceanus, at a
site approximately 400 miles east of Cape Hatteras, just
north of the Gulf Stream, in 3775m of water. The undersea
transmitter for the experiment operated over a range of 9
to 14.5kHz and was installed in a Sea Data model 1665 Inverted Echo Sounder (rES), deployed on the bottom. The
receive hydrophone was the standard EG&G acoustic release deck-set sensor (an ITC 3013 transducer), suspended
over the side of the ship about 18m below the surface. A
custom-built preamp with a 5kHz 2nd-order bandpass filter
was used with the hydrophone.

The seawater attenuation is due to magnesium-sulfate ionic

relaxation with an absorption coefficient of about 0.7 and
5.5 dB/kyd (at 10C and zero depth) for 12 arrd 35Hz, respectively (see ref. 15, page 109 and ref. 22). Over the
range of 8 to 50kHz, the absortion coefficient increases by
the square of the frequency, decreases about 7% for each
1000m of depth and increases about 2% for each C of tem,)erature decrease. The latter two effects tend to cancel
each other out in the top half of the deep ocean. Applying
the formulas to expected ocean conditions yields the values
below, which can be integrated over the sound propagation pathways to determine the absoption loss for various
telemetry applications.
Depth (m)

Temp (OC)

0
3000
6000

20
4
4

To test the new telemetry system, we elected to transmit

test signals from the ocean bottom to various lab-based receiver circuits via a shipboard precision audio recorder. In
this way we could perform receiver tests in the lab with various noise levels and different types of interference, using a

Attenuation (dB/kyd)
@10kHz
@33kHz
0.65
4.S
O.SO
3,3
0.38
2.4

When using the system in deep water, with a Skm path, we

can calculate a 16dB expected SNR for (poor) 20m/s wind
conditions, as follows: Given the TVR of the transducer
at +141 dB per volt, and considering a l.SdB loss for the
500hm tuning resistor, we can calculate an output acoustic
intensity of +178dB, for 20 watts (this was confirmed in
the pool test). We lose -74dB from Skm spreading and 5dB from attenuation (at 10kHz). The resulting calculated

TEST

/;;/

280

;~ TRANSMIT
7},>I,p,,1

large variety of transmission types as they were actually

received in the ocean. We used a small portable 16-bit digital audio tape (DAT) recorder (Technics model SV-MDl,
complete wit.h a manual entirely in Japanese). Thus we
were able to obtain "perfect" (90dB dynamic range, flat to
18kHz, 0.01% time stability) digital analog recordings of
the received hydrophone signals.

1. System Considerations
The receiver and transmitter of the acoustic modem each
occupy one card, as does the processor. The 33kHz transducer is very small, l.6-in (4cm) in diameter, and is constructed with an O-ring groove and 3/4-16 stud with embedded wires, to allow it to be screwed directly into an
endcap. Thus, the system can easily be added to many
existing designs. A standalone version mounted in a small
housing with a battery is planned as well.

During the experiment the transmitter variables were cycled through a variety of combinations using a parameter
table in the microprocessor's program. The parameters included: data rates (100 to 360 baud), modulation index
(300 and 500Hz), chirp sweep rate (10 and 40kHz/s), channel decay "quiet times" (62ms to 14s), transmit duration (1
to 10 bytes/record and 3 to 80 records) and the transmitted
data patterns.

The final telemetry system software will employ a data

transmission protocol suited for systems applications, and
error checking features. A unique code can be sent from
each transmitter for identification. Controlled redundancy
can greatly reduce the error rate: block error-correction
codes such as the Reed-Solomon code(21) can allow for correction (after reception) of up to 15 errors within a ISS-bit
block while achieving an 80% code rate (125 data bits).

During the experiment the receive variables included slant

range and Dolphin activity level. Winds of lOkts and a
steady rainfall both occurred at various times during the
experiment. The experiment was performed with the lowfrequency version (to = 9kHz), since all the available components (IES transmit stage, receive hydrophone and DAT
recorder) weighed against the 33kHz version.
.

Although both receiver and transmitter cards will often be

located at both ends of a system, creating a full underwater
MODEM, telemetry systems can be substantially simplified
if one-way data transmission is used. If stable time base oscillators are employed(19), offset time-slot channels may be
established so that many undersea instruments can transmit to a central receiver(20) on a single frequency, without
requiring a command for the transmission. Furthermore,
studies have shown(7) that a one way acoustic data transmission system can be optimal, e.g. "Analysis of the ADTL
data indicated that command and retry provided only minimal improvement in the amount of data passed without
errors."

Initial oscilloscope examination of the DAT tapes shows 3

to lOdB of fading after the sweep was under way (due to
multipath?), -6 to -lOdB of delayed (obvious) multi path
interference and a + 10 to +20dB Si~R (4kHz noise bandwidth), depending upon surface conditions.
The concept of using a DAT recording to provide receiver
test signals has proven to be very useful. At this writing,
excellent performance has been obtained playing back the
tapes into our prototype receiver. In this fashion we will
easily be able to optimize the performance of the receiver
design with tests using bench instruments, e.g. the SNR can
be degraded with noise generators. Already, we were able to
painlessly test the improvement that a CMOS-switch analog mixer provided over a limiter/XOR-gate mixer. Further
DAT recorder ocean experiments are planned in shallow
water.

8. Conclusion
It is our expectation that considerable improvement over
other traditional methods will be experienced with our new
swept-frequency telemetry, at a reduced cost. It is our hope
that our work will help lead to a greater and happier use
of acoustic telemetry in the ocean.

6.1 Dolphins. We experienced considerable interference

from dolphins, who were curious about the ship and enjoyed
playing with the hydrophone. A few dolphins used their
variable-rate pulse sonar to locate and "ping" the transducer; at closest approach they increased the ping rate to
buzz. Like our hydrophone, the dolphins could hear the
transmitter on the ocean bottom. Amazingly, they did a
good job of mimicking the 9 to 14kHz sweep signal of the
telemetry! But we haven't yet decoded their transmissions
(Does anyone know, do they use ASCII code? And if so,
is it Is b first?). It was necessary to move the ship several
times, and to turn off the fantail lights. This may be an
argument in favor of higher frequencies, such as our 33kHz
version.

9. Acknowlegments
One of us (GC) wrote some of the transmitter software
and singlehandedly (!) performed the undersea experiment,
during the wee hours when the rest of the ship was asleep,
while another (DN) modified the IES undersea transmitter
and constructed preamps and prototype receivers to analyze the DAT tapes. Special thanks are due to Kevin Boyce
for creating a major portion of the original IES microprocessor code, to Dan Frye and others at WHO I for their
suggestions and review of telemetry system goals and to
Prof. Randy Watts at URI for his encouragement.

281

(ll) Zielinski, A. and Caldera (1985). Digital Acoustic Co=unications in Multipath Underwater Channels, Oceans '85, pp 129&-1301.

10. References

(12) Caldera, M.K. (1987). A Multi-Frequency Digital Communication technique

for Acoustic Channel with Multipath, Oceans '87, pp 140-145.
(13) Catipovic, J., Baggcroer, Heydt and Koelsch (1984). Design and Performance
Analysis of & Digita.l Acoustic Telemetry System for the Short Range Underwa.ter
Channel, IEEE J. Oceanic Engineering, OE-9(4), pp. 242-252.

(I) Parker, B.B. (1985) Real-Time Oceanographic Model Systems: Present and
Future Applications, Oceans '85, Proc. IEEE-MTS Conf., pp W.-214.
(2) Urich, ILJ. (1982) Sound Propagation in the Sea, Peninsula Publishing, Los
Altos, CA, chapter 10-12.

(H) Gastounioties, C. and Moropoulos (1983). Programmable Deep Ocean Tranceiver, Oceans '83, pp 145-149.

(3) Coffey, D.M. and PaquetteiI985): Aaura<:y of Acoustic Multip'lh Timing i.ndRanging Predictions over Extended Ranges, Oceans '85, pp 480--489.

(IS) Urich, R. (1983). Principles of Underwater Sound, 3rd Ed, McGraw-HilL

(4) Kearney, P.O. and Laufer (1984). Sonarlink - A Deep Ocean High Data Rate,
Adaptive Telemetry System, Oceans '84, pp 49-53.

(16) Eller, A.I. (1985). Implementation of Rough Surface Loss in Sonar Performance
Models, Oceans '85, pp 494-49S.

(5) Vijayakumar, G. (1982). Acoustic Navigation- New Microprocessor Generation,

Oceans '82, pp 100-105.

(17) Farmer, D. and Lemon (l984). The Influence of Bubbles on Ambient Noise in
the Ocean at High Wind Speed., J. Physical Oceanography, 14 (II), pp.1762-177S.

(6) Scally, D.R., Ryerson and Towles (1984). Acoustic Telemetry in an Automated
System for Long-Term Ocean Data in Real Time, Oceans '84, pp 74S-752.

(IS) Zielinski, A. and Wu (1988). Data Retrieval from Bottom Instrumentation

Using Acoustic Link, Instrumentation and Measurements in the Polar Regions,
Proc IEEE-MTS Workshop, MTS, Berkeley, CA 94702, pp 283-294.

(7) Towles, T.L. and Hauser (1986). ATZ - An Acoustic Telemetry System for
Collection of Subsurface Temperature Data from a Moored Buoy, MDS '86, Pro<:.
MTS Conf. on Marine Data Systems, Marine Tech. Soc., Wash. D.C., pp 178-181.

(19) Hill, W. (l98S). Engineering Considerations for Underwater Remote-Sensing

Instruments, Ibid, pp 325-329.

(8) Cronan, P.H. and Gonsalves (1983). ENDECO Type 1033 Directional Wa,.e de
Current Telemetry System, Proc 1983 Symposium on Buoy Technology, pp 292-298.

(20) Bowers, G. and Lanza (1986). Data Telemetry System for Wide Array Temperature Sensing, MDS '86, pp 216-220.

(9) Jacobsen, H.P., Vestgard and Knudsen (1982). Acoustic Control System, Oceans
'82, pp 10&-110.

(21) Backes, J.L., Bell and Miller (1983). Implementation of Error Detection and
Corr""tion Codes for Acoustic Data Telemetry, Oceans '83, pp 167-175.

(10) Garrood, D.J. and Miller (1982). Acoustic Telemetry for Underwater Control,
Oceans '82, pp 111-114.

(22) Fisher, F.H. and Sirrunons (1977). Sound Absorption in Sea Water, J. Acoustical Society of America, 62, p.558.

--+
20

10 Hz

50

100 Hz

200

500

1 kHz

heavy

10 kHz

frequency
,

50 kHz

20

~=------+----------~~----~~~--~~~:::::=~~~------~----~'--~----~-r-r~~~~-4~r-r;r-~r;-,------~--80
SHIPPING
NSLt

moderate

r-----~--------+_----~c-----~------_4--~~~--~~~~=---~------+_~~~~------+__70dB

light

r------+---------+------~----~~--~r_~~----_+~c_--4_----~~+_~~~~_?~~~--~~,~--60

50

NOISE SPECTRAL LEVEL

.- .

--

~-

SNOW
2

30

typical curves as compiled by Sea Data

OdS

40

= 1 {JPa 1Hz 'h

...L-'--____- - - " _

282

20