Designing a wireless underwater optical communication system

Though acoustic modems have long been the default wireless communication method for underwater applications due to their long range, the need for high speed communication has prompted the exploration of non-acoustic methods that have previously been overlooked due to their distance limitations. One scenario that drives this need is the monitoring of deep sea oil wells by AUVs that could be stationed at the well and communicate surveillance data wirelessly to a base station. In this thesis, optical communication using LEDs is presented as an improvement over acoustic modems for scenarios where high speed, but only moderate distances, is required and lower power, less complex communication systems are desired. A super bright blue LED based transmitter system and a blue enhanced photodiode based receiver system were developed and tested with the goal of transmitting data at rates of 1 Mbps over distances of at least 10 meters. Test results in a fresh water tow tank showed the successful transmission of large data files over a distance of 13 meters and at transmission rates of at least 3 Mbps. With an improved test environment, even better performance may be possible.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Brundage, Heather

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/57699

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/57699