Ultrasonic Underwater Acoustic Modem Using
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) Modulation
Slamet Indriyanto
School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics
Institut Teknologi Bandung
Bandung, Indonesia
slamindriyanto@students.itb.ac.id
Abstract—Underwater acoustic communication uses sound
waves and uses water as a propagation medium. This techno-
logy has been applied in various field, such as underwater
wireless sensor network (UWSN), underwater monitoring sys-
tem, and surveillance system. An underwater acoustic modem
is required to be able to communicate between nodes. In this
paper we have designed underwater acoustic modem with
ultrasonic frequency using Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
Modulation. The designed system consist of FSK modem,
microcontroller, amplifier and transducer. Waterproof ultra-
sonic sensors JSN-SR04T are used as transducers for designed
modems. This sensor works well on ultrasonic frequencies, so
the FSK modem frequency is adjusted to work properly and
match with the transducer used. Therefore, the mark freq-
uency of the modem is 40 kHz and the space frequency is 43
kHz. The test results, show that the FSK Modem can send text
data through water media with good results at 1200bps. Result
of BER measurement indicate that at distance 100cm and
130cm obtained BER value 0%. At a distance of 150cm
obtained BER value 6.2%, and at a distance of 170cm got the
biggest error that is 35% This indicates that the addition of the
number of bits sent and the addition of distance gives an effect
to the value of BER.
Keywords—Ultrasonic, Modem, Frequency Shift Keying
(FSK), Underwater Acoustic Communication, Underwater
Wireless Sensor Network, Bir Error Rate (BER).
I. INTRODUCTION
Underwater communication technology has been used in
various applications such as underwater wireless sensor
networks (UWSN) [1], underwater pollution monitoring
indicators [2], seismic monitoring [3], and surveillance
systems [4]. Features and architecture of the underwater
sensor network, network design, presented in [1].
In addition to using acoustics, several other studies use
radio frequencies and optics [5]. However, most underwater
communications technology development uses acoustic
signal as its propagation media. This is due to the frequency
selective fading in underwater environtment. This issue
causes certain frequencies to attenuate than other
frequencies. As a result, radio frequencies tend to suffer
from high attenuation over very short distances [6].
Acoustic communication systems have advantages in
long distance underwater data transmition, but this system is
a difficult communication medium, due to acoustic carrier
attenuation, multi-path reflection, and delay spread. [7].
Some modulation schemes of underwater acoustic modems
that have been used by researchers are Frequency Shift
Keying (FSK), Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Phase Shift
Keying (PSK), Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS),
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and
978-1-5386-6163-5/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
Ian Yosef Matheus Edward
School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics
Institut Teknologi Bandung
Bandung, Indonesia
ian@stei.itb.ac.id
others. From this modulation scheme, many researchers use
FSK modulation because of its simple design. However, one
major drawback with FSK is that the bit rate is slow when
compared to other modulation schemes. FSK is not ideal for
high data rate applications such as Autonomous underwater
vehicle (AUV) control and streaming audio or video. [8].
In addition to the environmental challenges already men-
tioned, other challenges are related to the price of under-
water communication devices. Underwater acoustic com-
munication technology is not cheap. Currently, this
technology is dominated by commercial devices and has a
price of over $8000 [9].
In this paper we have designed an underwater acoustic
modem with FSK modulation at ultrasonic frequency and
analyzing the performance of the designed modem. Design
starts from the selection of the most important component
from the cost perspective that is transducer. So hopefully it
can produce underwater acoustic modems with low cost
suitable for short-range sensor network applications.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Some research related to underwater acoustic modem
such as J. Trezzo et al [6] present adaptive underwater
acoustic modem, they use adaptable modulation scheme
between FSK and DSSS with data rate 200bps and 400bps.
In [9] B. Benson et al present design of a low-cost
underwater acoustic modem, they also use FSK modulation
with 35kHz frequency, used for short range, and low data
rate application with data rate up to 200bps. In [10] J.H.Jeon
et al present a moving underwater communication system
with bio-inspired fish robot. They investigated a moving
communication system with a frequency of 74kHz and with
data rate of 1kbps.
III. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION AND PARAMETER
A. Modulation Scheme
Due to the high variations of underwater acoustic
communication channels, several different modulation
schemes have been used by researchers. In this section we
will discuss about the modulation scheme we use, that is
Frequency shift keying (FSK) Modulation.
FSK is a simple digital modulation technique that can
provide reliable communication under harsh medium
conditions. Many researchers use FSK modulation because
of their reliability and simple receiver design [8]. However,
one major disadvantages in FSK modulation is that bit rate is
slower than other modulation schemes. FSK is not ideal for
high data rate applications such as Autonomous underwater
vehicle (AUV) control and streaming audio or video.
PC 1
Microcontroller
1 2
Modem 1
Transdus Transdus
er
Acoustic Channel
er
Fig. 1. Block Diagram
Frequency shift keying is chosen to be implemented as a
physical layer communication protocol because it is simple,
but a powerful modulation scheme that requires a small
bandwidth (to match transducer characteristics and analog
circuits used), and has been widely used in underwater
communication for two decades because its resistance to
frequency spreading of underwater acoustic channels [9].
Fig. 3. FSK Acoustic Modem
Mark frequency (binary 1) and space frequency (binary
0) are 40kHz and 43kHz. Fig. 2 show an example of FSK
modulation.
Fig. 2. FSK Modulation Example
B. Modem (Modulator & Demodulator)
A modulator is a circuit responsible for translating bit
streams into the form of signals that can be transmitted to
physical media. For FSK modulation, digital data is
transmitted over an analog channel by shifting the carrier
frequency to the mark and space frequency of each period
depending on whether the digit is 1 or 0 [9].
The modulator circuit is designed using IC XR-2206.
XR-2206 is an Exar integrated circuit (IC) product capable
of producing sine, square, triangle, ramp and high-quality
pulses with high stability and accuracy [11].
PC 2
The demodulator is responsible for converting received
analog signals into digital signals. In FSK modulation, this
Microcontroller
means detecting the frequency of the mark and the space
frequencies on the received signal and converting back to
digital 1 or 0. [9] The demodulator circuit is designed using
Modem 2 the XR-2211A IC which is also an Exar product [12].
Table 1 shows the parameters of the designed modem.
The Mark frequency is used to represent the digital bit "1",
Amplifier
and the space frequency is used to represent the digital bit
"0".
TABLE I. MODEM PARAMETERS
Properties Assigment
Modulation FSK
Mark Frequency 40kHz
Space Frequency 43kHz
Bandwidth 3kHz
Speed 1200bps
C. Transducer
The transducer is a component used to convert an
electrical signal into an acoustic signal (on the sending side)
or convert an acoustic signal into electricity (at the receiving
end). Commercial transducers have a high price. For that
reason, in this paper we used a cheaper transducer.
Fig. 4. Waterproof ultrasonic sensor
Waterproof ultrasonic sensor JSN SR-04T is selected as
transducer on designed modem. This sensor is generally used
as a distance meter sensor on a car. This sensor is an
ultrasonic distance measuring module with a non-contact
distance detection function. This product adopts an
industrial-grade integrated, ultrasonic design with water-
proof type, and has stable performance. Table 2 shows the
features and specifications of JSN SR-04T transducer.
Application of this sensor is generally used for the sensor
distance meter / car parking sensor, for it needs to be tested
and measured if the sensor will be used as an acoustic
transducer.
 TABLE II. TRANSDUCER SPESCIFICATIONS [13] times with 1 second delay. The test is done in a swimming
Operating voltage DC 3.0 – 5.5V pool at 100cm - 150cm distance and bit rate 1200bps
Working current Kurang dari 8mA
Probe frequency 40KHz
Measuring angle 750
Operating temperature -200 to 700 C

In this test, we measure the frequency response of the

JSN SR-04T sensor. Testing is done by giving input
frequency 20kHz up to 50KHz from function generator to
transducer 1, then acoustic signal received through
transducer 2 and measured with oscilloscope. From this test
is obtained at the frequency area wherever the JSN SR-04T
sensor provides a good response. Fig.5 shows the frequency
measurement results of the transducer used:
Fig. 7. System Test
In Fig.8 shows the serial monitor display of the arduino
on the sender side.

Fig. 5. Transducer frequency response graph

IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

A. Basic Test
In this test, a measurement is made to see the output of
the modulator circuit to fit the design. This test also aims to
obtain the frequency mark and frequency space of the
modulator circuit.
Fig. 8. Serial monitor sender side
In Fig.9 shows the serial monitor display of the arduino
on the receiver side.

Fig. 6. Input and output modulator measurement

Fig. 9. Serial monitor receiver side
B. System Test The second test scenario is the Bit Error Rate Test. This
The system test scenario is divided into two step. The test is done by sending data packets consisting of 7, 14, 35
first system test is done by sending the "hello world" text 10 and 70 bit data with bit rate 1200bps. and tested at 100cm,
130cm, 150cm and 170cm. Each data packet is tested 10
times and the average BER value is taken.
Result of BER measurement indicate that at distance
100cm and 130cm obtained BER value 0%. At a distance of
150cm obtained BER value 6.2%, and at a distance of 170cm
got the biggest error that is 35% This indicates that the
addition of the number of bits sent and the addition of
distance gives an effect to the value of BER.
[8] J. Partan, J. Kurose, and B. N. Levine, “A survey of practical issues in
underwater networks,” SIGMOBILE Mob. Comput. Commun. Rev.,
vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 23–33, Oct. 2007.
[9] B. Benson, Y. Li, B. Faunce, K. Domond, D. Kimball, C. Schurgers,
R. Kastner, “Design of a Low-Cost Underwater Acoustic Modem”,
IEEE Embedded Systems Letters, Vol. 2, No. 3, Sept. 2010.
[10] J.H. Jeon, N.-Y. Yun, H. Nam, C.-G. Hong, S.-J. Park, S.-H. Park, S.
An, C.-H. Kim, G.-H. Yang, and Y.-S. Ryuh, “A moving underwater
communication system with bio-inspired fish robots,” in Proceedings
of the Seventh ACM International Conference on Underwater
Networks and Systems, ser. WUWNet ’12. New York, NY, USA:
ACM, 2012, pp. 15:1–15:7.
[11] XR2206 datasheet [Online], Available: https://www.sparkfun.com/-
datasheets/Kits/XR2206_104_020808.pdf (Accessed January 2018)
[12] XR2211 datasheet [online], Available: https://www.exar.com/-
ds/xr2211av104.pdf (Accessed January 2018)
[13] JSN-SR04T-2.0, Ultrasonic waterproof Range Finder, [Online],
Available: https://www.jahankitshop.com/getattach.aspx?id=4635&-
Type=Product (Accessed January 2018)

Fig. 10. BER VS Distance

V. CONCLUSION
Ultrasonic underwater acoustic modems have been
successfully built using low-cost transducers and modems.
FSK modulation technique is chosen because it is simple and
is a powerful modulation technique. The test has been done
in the swimming pool by sending the "hello world" text and
successfully reach to the receiver well at 1200bps. Result of
BER measurement indicate that at distance 100cm and
130cm obtained BER value 0%. At a distance of 150cm
obtained BER value 6.2%, and at a distance of 170cm got
the biggest error that is 35% This indicates that the addition
of the number of bits sent and the addition of distance gives
an effect to the value of BER.

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