High bandwidth covert underwater acoustic communications

Demand within the maritime domain calls for increased use of autonomous assets for search, survey, inspection and undertaking tasks. For these assets to cooperate in an effective manner, through water communications is needed. Underwater acoustic communication is well established, with acoustic waves from 10 - 50 kHz propagating up to several kilometres in distance, albeit at low data rates.

High frequency acoustic wave transmission (e.g. 100 kHz - 1 MHz) has promise for covert communication over a short range, since signal attenuation is rapid and the noise environment is relatively predictable and benign (dominated by thermal noise).

The purpose of this PhD is to investigate the feasibility of using high frequency acoustic waves for underwater acoustic communication. It will develop covert short range communication capability that enables multiple assets to cooperate in the complex and dynamic underwater environment without counter-detection; this will allow squads of autonomous assets to search or survey areas in faster time.

An understanding of the propagation characteristics of high frequency acoustic waves through water will be established. This will form the basis of the development of new communication techniques for networks of underwater vehicles. The project is most closely aligned with the Information and Communication Technologies theme.

This PhD studentship is partly funded and supported by Thales UK.