SBIR Phase I: Low Cost, Highly Efficient Wireless Underwater Acoustic Modem

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Project supports the development of a low cost, highly efficient, wireless, underwater modem that will lead to new applications for underwater sensor networks. Today, commercially available underwater modems cost several thousand dollars and are typically designed for point-to-point communications using external power sources that are hardwired. Therefore, these modems are not practical for building underwater sensor networks. The objective of this project is to establish the feasibility and direct the future development of a modem that will fill this void in aquatic technology by providing the building blocks for constructing affordable wireless underwater sensor networks. The modem's wireless capability enables measurement data to be continuously transmitted to processing centers on the surface in real-time. The modem's design includes configurable hardware and power management circuitry that minimizes power consumption by automatically adjusting various system parameters in response to environmental conditions. The modem's low cost will not only make sensor networks affordable for a host of new applications, but the high efficiency will also reduce the maintenance costs as the modem will operate for extended periods without the need to recharge the power source. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that with the development of the low cost, highly efficient, underwater modem, the concept of dense underwater networks will become a realization for educational institutions, governments and companies around the world. Underwater modems can monitor various aquatic conditions, such as temperature, salinity, nutrient concentration, volatile hydrocarbons, and pathogenic bacteria. By deploying many modems in a small area to create a dense underwater network, a complete and accurate description of aquatic environmental conditions may be obtained. The ability to monitor any aquatic environment in real-time at an affordable cost leads to a host of new applications, such as the monitoring of pollution in lakes and rivers and along shorelines and monitoring the purity of drinking water in municipal reservoirs. For companies, underwater sensor networks would provide effective measurement systems for industrial facilities to monitor their effluent water to ensure their compliance to the environmental and safety regulations that govern their activities. On the global scale, early detection of natural events, such as tsunamis, and man-made disasters, such as oil spills and leaks, can greatly mitigate harm to lives, property and the environment.