Acoustic Communication from Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) to Naval Forces

There are four key elements to the successful design and ultimate deployment of an acoustic underwater communications system for IUSS/ASW tactical connectivity. First, the properties and limitations of the undersea environment must be understood and characterized. Second, the communications link design must provide robust and efficient performance in the presence of the highly variable undersea environment. Third, the offered connectivity, data rates, and reliability must provide tactical utility without significant degradation of prime ASW sensor capabilities. Fourth, maximum utilization of existing and planned subsystems already present or planned for installation must be a key element of the overall design, and additional component development, production, and installation cost should be modest, so that the overall system is affordable. The proposed approach incorporates all the above elements. Characteristics of the communication function include bandspreading, multipath resistance, error correction, and higher data rates for links with benign acoustic conditions. The Phase I effort will survey the operational and planned ASW platform and IUSS resources, design and overall acoustic communications system including operational concept and connectivities, model and analyze link performance accounting for the detailed acoustic environment, and design the acoustic transceiver capable of performing as required for the communications system.