Low-bit-rate coding of underwater video using wavelet-basedcompression algorithms

Recent advances in autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and underwater communication technology have promoted a surge of research activity within the area of signal and information processing. A new application is proposed herein for capturing and processing underwater video onboard an untethered AUV, then transmitting it to a remote platform using acoustic telemetry. Since video communication requires a considerably larger bandwidth than that provided by an underwater acoustic channel, the data must be massively compressed prior to transmission from the AUV. Past research has shown that the low contrast and low-detailed nature of underwater imagery allows for low-bit-rate coding of the data by wavelet-based image-coding algorithms. In this work, these findings have been extended to the design of a wavelet-based hybrid video encoder which employs entropy-constrained vector quantization (ECVQ) with overlapped block-based motion compensation. The ECVQ codebooks were designed from a statistical source model which describes the distribution of high subband wavelet coefficients in both intraframe and prediction error images. Results indicate that good visual quality can be achieved for very low bit-rate coding of underwater video with our algorithm     

Performance limitations in underwater acoustic telemetry

Performance limitations in digital acoustic telemetry are addressed. Increases in computational capabilities have led to a number of complex but practical solutions aimed at increasing the reliability of acoustic data links. These solutions range from ocean-basin scale data telemetry to video-image transmission at a few hundred yards' distance. The opportunity to implement highly complex tasks in real time on modest hardware is a common factor. The data rates range from 1 to 500 kb/s and are much slower than satellite channels, while acceptable system complexity is higher than virtually any other channel with comparable data throughput. The basic performance bounds are the channel phase stability, available bandwidth, and the channel impulse response fluctuation rate. Phase stability is of particular concern for long-range telemetry, channel fluctuation characteristics drive equalizer, and synchronizer design; the bandwidth limitation is a direct constraint on data rate for a given signaling method     

水声通信及组网的现状和展望

水声通信是海洋中无线信息传输的主要技术手段。水声通信技术在海洋环境监测、水下航行器/载人潜水器作业等方面有着广泛应用。同时,水声信道传输状态多变、海洋作业环境恶劣,对通信算法和设备可靠性有较高要求,水声通信及组网成为目前的研究热点。文中面向海洋环境监测领域,从水声通信物理层技术、网络技术及组网应用等方面进行介绍,并对未来技术趋势进行展望。     

水声信道高速率数据传输技术

本文介绍近年来水声信道高速率数所传输技术的一些研究进展，并结合本所研究的水声数据遥测，数字语音通讯和视频图像传输实验样机，讨论了具有抗多途干扰的声传输系统在调制信号设计及信号处理上所采用的关键技术。     

水声通信中基于小波变换的图像编码研究

提出了一种高误比特率传输条件下的图像编码方法，它适用于水声信道的图像传输。针对水下图像的特点，选取合适的小波基和变换参数对图像进行离散小波变换；依据小波系数的能量分布特性，对不同的子带采用不同的量化和定长编码，编码率为0．8比特／像素。水声通信试验表明，在传输误比特率达到10^-2时，仍能得到可接受的图像质量。     

Spatial diversity equalization for MIMO ocean acousticcommunication channels

The available bandwidth of ocean acoustic channels is inherently narrow that impedes high-transmission rate and makes it difficult for multiple users to communicate simultaneously. To alleviate this problem, spatial diversity antennas are used to increase the date rate. In this paper, we employ the spatial diversity equalizers (SDE) to increase the effective channel bandwidth by minimizing the mean-square error (mse). Although joint equalizers have been used in digital telephone subscriber lines to suppress crosstalk, we apply the concept to ocean acoustic channels and show that multiuser communication is possible despite the narrow-channel bandwidth. In addition, we will show that the advantage of SDE is not because we use more taps, but because we collect the data carried through various ocean paths. By applying the saddle point integration method to multiinput multioutput (MIMO) channels, we compute the probability of error (PE) to show that a factor of 3-4 of channel reuse is possible     

Recent advances in high-speed underwater acoustic communications

In recent years, underwater acoustic (UWA) communications have received much attention as their applications have begun to shift from military toward commercial. Digital communications through UWA channels differ substantially from those in other media, such as radio channels, due to severe signal degradations caused by multipath propagation and high temporal and spatial variability of the channel conditions. The design of underwater acoustic communication systems has until recently relied on the use of noncoherent modulation techniques. However, to achieve high data rates on the severely band-limited UWA channels, bandwidth-efficient modulation techniques must be considered, together with array processing for exploitation of spatial multipath diversity. The new generation of underwater communication systems, employing phase-coherent modulation techniques, has a potential of achieving at least an order of magnitude increase in data throughput. The emerging communication scenario in which the modern underwater acoustic systems mill operate is that of an underwater network consisting of stationary and mobile nodes. Current research focuses on the development of efficient signal processing algorithms, multiuser communications in the presence of interference, and design of efficient modulation and coding schemes. This paper presents a review of recent results and research problems in high-speed underwater acoustic communications, focusing on the bandwidth-efficient phase-coherent methods. Experimental results are included to illustrate the state-of-the-art coherent detection of digital signals transmitted at 30 and 40 kb/s through a rapidly varying one-mile shallow water channel     

水声通信半物理仿真平台设计与应用

信道自身的复杂性和现场级试验的高投入、高风险限制了水声通信技术的发展。针对高效率水声通信技术研究的需求,提出1种水声通信半物理仿真平台水声通信半物理仿真平台(A Hardware-in-Loop Simulation Platform for Underwater Acoustic Communication)。水声通信半物理仿真平台以可配置水声Modem为核心,包括现场测试采集系统、算法仿真评估系统、算法实现装载系统、水声波形存储播放系统。基于建立的水声通信半物理仿真平台,进行水声直接序列扩频通信系统的半物理仿真研究,结果表明水声通信半物理仿真平台可有效提高水声通信技术的研究效率。     

水下光学无线通信的海水信道特性研究

提出了将具有比声学高达几倍的数据通信速率,良好的安全性和隐蔽性的光学无线通信技术应用于海军、海洋科学研究和水下工程等领域,实现高速率的水下无线通信技术实现海量数据的信息交换.基于生物光学特性的水下光学信道模型,建立了水下光学通信系统性能分析方法.并对基于发光二极管(LED)的水下光学无线通信系统进行了仿真,其结果表明所建立的方法可以进行各种海域水质环境的模拟,便于时水下光学无线通信系统性能进行预测评估,为水下光学无线通信系统的设计方案的评估提供了依据.     

国产深海准实时传输潜标系统设计

基于海洋环境安全保障、海洋环境预报和海洋科学研究的需要,开展国产深海准实时传输潜标系统的设计,重点进行锚泊系统水动力分析、观测设备工作同步性、准实时通讯系统安全可靠和系统低功耗等整体技术设计;开展轻型感应耦合传输缆制作、大深度感应耦合传输和智能收放通讯等数据实时通讯技术的研究;进行适用于准实时传输潜标系统的多种类国产设备的稳定性和可靠性优化、规模化集成和系统化的应用示范,形成半潜升降式准实时通讯潜标与浮子式准实时通讯潜标各1套。所设计的准实时传输潜标系统集成了1台抗污染CTD、19台感应耦合CTD、8台感应耦合T、4台感应耦合传输的ADCP、2台单点海流计和6台感应耦合数据传输仪,并配有2套声学释放器;潜标系统本体设计含有3个水下流线型浮体、1套通讯浮子、1套准实时卫星通讯装置（半潜式水下绞车或海面浮子）和1套锚泊缆系,可实现深达2 000 mm的剖面温盐深和海流等海洋要素的高频率、多要素、多层次的长期连续观测和数据准实时传输,以便对科学问题解决和海洋环境安全保障等提供及时的数据支撑。     

水声信道中一种抗多途跳频通信的研究

水声通道系统是当代海洋开发和海洋环境立体监测中的重要技术组成部分，广泛应用于海洋监测、海洋资源勘探和开发等方面。然而，水声信道的随机起伏、时－空－频变的多途特征使水声通信技术成为当代最为复杂的通信技术之一。本文介绍近年来在高速水声通信方面的一些研究进展，讨论了一种利用高速数字信号处理器（DSP）实现水声信道跳频通信的方案，并探讨了该方案在调制信号设计及信号处理实现上所采用的关键技术。     

水声数据通信系统研究

提出一种基于并行传输体制的水声数据通信系统设计方案,发射端采用纠错能力很强的级联码和MFSK调制,分集技术采用抑制载波的双边带调制方式,接收端对接收信号利用快速频谱分析进行解调,并进行硬判决Viterbi译码和BM迭代译码。实验表明,该水声数据通信系统的传输波特率为200bits/s。误码率达到10^-5～10^-6以下。     

水声信道高速率数据传输的换能器研制

在复杂的水声信道中 ,实现高速率的数据传输 ,水声换能器的带宽是一个重要的技术问题。实验中 ,为了拓宽换能器的带宽 ,我们利用圆柱形压电换能器的径向振动与液腔振动相耦合原理研制自由溢流式换能器和利用纵向振动与前盖板弯曲振动相耦合原理研制纵向振动复合棒换能器。本文介绍适应于复杂的水声信道中 ,进行高速率数据传输的两种宽频带换能器的研制     

Compound compensation strategies for wireless data communicationsover the multimodal acoustic ocean waveguide

Underwater acoustic communications (UAC) at the reverberation-limited range results in severely distorted information signals. Wide-band signals are subject to both intermodal and intramodal-type of dispersions. The underwater acoustic channel impulse response and the sidelobes strongly depend on the waveguide structure and the source and receiver positions. The motion and displacement from this position, as well as other environmental variabilities impose a real-time adaptivity for the receiver operation to keep track of the fluctuations. To increase the system's reliability and data rate, there is a need to employ adaptive equalizers and diversity techniques to improve the margins against noise, and intersymbol interference (ISI). Blind adaptive equalization (BAE) is the ideal adaptive compensation when operating point-to-multipoint networks, and centralized communication systems in general. Inherent optimum multiple resonant modes within the ocean acoustic waveguide can be exploited judiciously via a new proposed parallel data multicarrier modulation (MCM) scheme by sending data over the multiple subcarriers. MCM might eventually obviate equalization which introduces higher-order computational complexity to the receiver. The above modulation eliminates multipaths and allows operation at multiples of the single-carrier transmission rate. The system's immunity to distortions such as ISI, fast fades, and impulsive noises, is increased due to incorporation of symbol guard space. Direct comparisons with single carrier schemes (such as higher-order statistics (HOS)-based equalization) are of great interest, since the proposed new receiver configuration has low-complexity to provide a compact, portable and low-power practical acoustic modem. Finally, network topology issues are considered to determine optimum network architectures for underwater acoustic LANs. A central topology (CT) supported by BAE and MCM transmission is proposed     

Performance analysis of digital acoustic communication in a shallowwater channel

The major obstacle to underwater acoustic communication is the interference of multi-path signals due to surface and bottom reflections. High speed acoustic transmission over a shallow water channel characterized by small grazing angles presents formidable difficulties. The reflection losses associated with such small angles are low, causing large amplitudes in multi-path signals. In this paper we propose a simple but effective model for multi-path interference, which is then used to assess the performance of a digital communication system operating in a shallow water channel. The results indicate that transmission rates in excess of 8 kbits/s are possible over a distance of 13 km and channel depth of only 20 meters. Such a system offers improved performance in applications such as data collection from underwater sensors     

感应耦合技术在海洋声学同步测量中的应用

海洋声场环境研究需要对不同深度的海洋声学环境要素进行同步测量,而感应耦合数据传输技术可实现多个单通道水声测量仪之间的同步采集和记录。文中阐述了感应耦合数据传输技术的特点及其在海洋声学环境同步测量中的应用,介绍了一种利用感应耦合数据传输技术实现数据同步测量的声学浮标系统,详细描述了系统的方案设计、结构组成及感应耦合部分的关键技术。实验水池测试表明,该系统工作稳定可靠,数据同步性好,具有良好的应用前景。     

水声通信网及其多址接入技术

随着世界各国海洋开发步伐的加快,对水下传感器网络、水下监视系统、水声预警网络的需求愈来愈迫切,海洋水声通信网络的研究成了世界范围内的研究热点.水声通信网研究面临的主要困难是:海洋声信道的长延时、可用频带有限、严重的时变多途影响、功耗限制、网络安全性等.在分析水下无线通信的特殊环境后,针对水声通信网的多址接入技术进行了研究,选择适合的传输方式及相关协议构建基于OFDM与CDMA技术结合的水下通信网多载波CDMA系统;在matlab上实现多载波CDMA技术的水声通信网络节点对节点的数据传送,并得出了该系统的仿真结果:在帧长一定的情况下,随着信噪比的增大,系统的误码率会减小.在信噪比一定的情况下,子载波数目的进一步增大不会带来系统误码率的改善反而会使系统复杂性增加,降低系统的平均吞吐量,因此子载波数的选择应该在系统复杂性和效率之间折衷考虑.当水声信道上的信噪比一定时,可以通过控制数据帧的长度和子载波的个数来实现较高的网络平均吞吐量.     

Beam propagation in the ocean: Quasi-particle approach

In this paper the Quasi-Particle (QP) technique has been applied for the first time to the study of beam propagation in slowly varying sound-speed profiles with an upper boundary, typical of some underwater acoustic environments. With the aim of testing the possibilities and the limitations of this new technique, particular attention has been devoted to special effects. The results of this analysis have been used to give some criteria for a proper modeling of the ocean environment from the Quasi-Particle point of view.     

自主回收UUV水声定位与遥测遥控导引技术研究

针对 UUV 任务结束或能源不足时自主回收的需求,深入研究了 UUV 中远程水声定位与遥测遥控导引技术,完成了水声定位与遥测遥控导引系统方案设计,重点研究了 MFSK、OFDM、扩频等水声遥测遥控调制方式。 通过分析和对比,设计了一种正交混合扩频调制方式,并采用相干二维搜索技术,提高扩频技术多普勒补偿能力。 开展了湖上静态与动态跑船试验,试验数据结果表明:水声水平定位精度优于 0. 5%,水声遥测遥控系统解算误码率达到了 10^-3 数量级,可有效引导 UUV 回收作业。     

Adaptive multiuser detection for underwater acoustical channels

An underwater acoustic local area network (ALAN) provides multipoint-to-point telemetry between many high-rate, ocean-bottom sensors and a central, surface-deployed receiver in the 10-30 kHz vertical acoustical channel. Ocean-bottom modems initiate the transmission process by requesting data channel time slots via a common narrow-band request channel. Request packets overlap in time and frequency in this channel, and the throughput and average transmission delay rely heavily on the successful resolution of the request packet collisions. This paper presents the design, analysis, and experimental demonstration of a request channel receiver capable of resolving collisions between several asynchronous and cochannel packets. The receiver algorithm differs from standard capture schemes (by demodulating the data from both strong and weak transmitters), conventional spread-spectrum receivers (by overcoming the near-far problem), and existing multiple-access demodulation techniques (by adapting to the number of interfering signals, and the unknown phase, Doppler, amplitude, and timing of each signal in the collision). The receiver demodulates the collided packets by decision-directed techniques through a novel method of estimating the interference for each user which minimizes error propagation due to inaccurate tentative decisions. An inwater experiment illustrates that this technique is extremely desirable for collision resolution in underwater acoustic local area networks, and also for underwater autonomous vehicles with both sidescan sonar as well as acoustic telemetry links