AquaOptical: a lightweight device for high-rate long-range underwater point-to-point communication

Abstract

This paper describes AquaOptical, an underwater optical communication system. Three optical modems have been developed: a long range system, a short range system, and a hybrid. We describe their hardware and software architectures and highlight trade-offs. We present pool and ocean experiments with each system. In clear water AquaOptical was tested to achieve a data rate of 1.2 Mbit/sec at distances up to 30 m. The system was not tested beyond 30 m. In water with visibility estimated at 3 m AquaOptical achieved communication at data rates of 0.6 Mbit/sec at distances up to 9 m.