research-article

Acoustic modem for micro AUVs: design and practical evaluation

Authors:

Christian Renner and

Alexander J. GolkowskiAuthors Info & Claims

WUWNet '16: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Underwater Networks & Systems

October 2016

Article No.: 2, Pages 1 - 8

https://doi.org/10.1145/2999504.3001076

Published: 24 October 2016 Publication History

Abstract

The recent development of small, cheap AUVs such as MONSUN and Hippocampus enables a plethora of applications for underwater inshore monitoring. Among these are the detection of pollution sources in ports, water-quality monitoring in lakes, and the support and protection of divers in context of disaster management. These tasks profit from online reporting and controlling as well as swarm interaction between the AUVs. For this purpose, communication is required. In this paper, we present a prototype of an acoustic modem that is (i) small enough to be carried by micro AUVs in the sub 10 L class, (ii) consumes little enough energy to not diminish operation times of its host, (iii) comes at an attractive unit cost of less than €600, and (iv) can reliably communicate at distances of 50m and more. Due to its modular build, the modem can be easily customized and is hence suitable as research platform to analyze, e.g., MAC and routing protocols. We present results of detailed real-world studies of its communication range, packet reception rate, and ranging accuracy.

References

[1]

Aquarian Audio Products. Aquarian hydrophones. http://www.aquarianaudio.com. Accessed: 2016/07/26.

[2]

Atmel Corp. Atmel AT32UC3A1512. http://www.atmel.com/devices/AT32UC3A1512.aspx. Accessed: 2015/12/01.

[3]

B. Benson, Y. Li, R. Kastner, B. Faunce, K. Domond, D. Kimball, and C. Schurgers. Design of a Low-Cost, Underwater Acoustic Modem for Short-Range Sensor Networks. In OCEANS, Sydney, Australia, 2010.

[4]

G. Cario, A. Casavola, M. Lupia, and C. Rosace. SeaModem: A Low-Cost Underwater Acoustic Modem for Shallow Water Communication. In OCEANS, 2015.

[5]

V. Djapic, W. Dong, D. Spaccini, G. Cario, A. Casavola, P. Gjanci, M. Lupia, and C. Petrioli. Cooperation of Coordinated Teams of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. In IFAC, Leipzig, Germany, 2016.

[6]

M. W. Doniec, I. Topor, M. Chitre, and D. Rus. Autonomous, Localization-Free Underwater Data Muling using Acoustic and Optical Communication. In ISER, Quebec City, Canada, 2012.

[7]

Evologics GmbH. Underwater Acoustic Modems. http://www.evologics.de/en/products/acoustics/. Accessed: 2016/07/26.

[8]

L. Freitag, M. Grund, S. Singh, J. Partan, P. Koski, and K. Ball. The WHOI Micro-Modem: An Acoustic Communcations and Navigation System for Multiple Platforms. In OCEANS, 2005.

[9]

E. Gallimore, J. Partan, I. Vaughn, S. Singh, J. Shusta, and L. Freitag. The WHOI Micromodem-2: A Scalable System for Acoustic Communications and Networking. In OCEANS, 2010.

[10]

A. Hackbarth, E. Kreuzer, and E. Solowjow. HippoCampus: A Micro Underwater Vehicle for Swarm Applications. In IROS, Hamburg, Germany, 2015.

Digital Library

[11]

J. Heidemann, M. Stojanovic, and M. Zorzi. Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances, and Challenges. Phil. Trans. Royal Society---A, 370(1958):158--175, 2012.

[12]

Hydromea. Vertex AUV System Overview. http://hydromea.com/vertex_brochure.pdf. Accessed: 2016/08/01.

[13]

J. Lloret. Underwater Sensor Nodes and Networks. Sensors, SI on Underwater Sensor Nodes and Underwater Sensor Networks, 13(9):11782--11796, 2013.

[14]

B. Meyer, C. Renner, and E. Maehle. Versatile Sensor and Communication Expansion Set for the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle MONSUN. In CLAWAR, London, UK, 2016.

[15]

N. Nowsheen, C. Benson, and M. Frater. A High Data-Rate, Software-Defined Underwater Acoustic Modem. In OCEANS, Sydney, Australia, 2010.

[16]

C. Osterloh, B. Meyer, A. Amory, T. Pionteck, and E. Maehle. MONSUN II --- Towards Autonomouss Underwater Swarms for Environmental Monitoring. In IROS, 2012.

[17]

K. Pelekanakis and M. Chitre. Robust Equalization of Mobile Underwater Acoustic Channels. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 40(4):775--784, 2015.

[18]

Riptide Autonomous Solutions. Micro-UUV. https://riptideas.com/micro-uuv/. Accessed: 2016/08/01.

[19]

A. Sanchez, S. Blanc, P. Yuste, and J. J. Serrano. A Low Cost and High Efficient Acoustic Modem for Underwater Sensor Networks. In OCEANS, Santander, Spain, 2011.

[20]

T. Schmickl, R. Thenius, C. Möslinger, S. Kernbach, T. Dipper, D. Sutantyo, J. Timmis, A. Tyrrell, M. Read, J. Hilder, C. Stefanini, L. Manfredi, S. Orofino, J. Halloy, and A. Campo. CoCoRo - The Self-aware Underwater Swarm. In SASO, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, 2011.

Digital Library

[21]

S. Sendra, J. Lloret, J. M. Jimenez, and L. Parra. Underwater Acoustic Modems. IEEE Sensors, 16(11):4063--4071, 2016.

[22]

Sonardyne. uComm --- Acoustic Modem. http://www.sonardyne.com/images/stories/datasheets/Sonardyne_8260_uCOMM.pdf. Accessed: 2016/08/01.

[23]

M. Stojanovic and J. Preisig. Underwater Acoustic Communication Channels: Propagation Models and Statistical Characterization. IEEE Comm. Mag., pages 84--89, 2009.

Digital Library

[24]

Teledyne Benthos. ATM-903 series (OEM). http://teledynebenthos.com/product/acoustic_modems/903-series-atm-903. Accessed: 2016/08/01.

[25]

Tritech Intl. Ltd. Micron Data Modem --- Acoustic Modem. http://www.tritech.co.uk/product/micron-data-modem. Accessed: 2016/08/01.

[26]

R. J. Urick. Principles of Underwater Sound 3rd Edition. Peninsula, 1996.

[27]

G. S. K. Wong and S. ming Zhu. Speed of Sound in Seawater as a Function of Salinity, Temperature and Pressure. Acoustic Society America, 97:1732--1736, 1995.

Cited By

Golkowski AHandte MMarron PWedemeyer ARobert J(2023)A low-cost binaural hearing support system for mobile robotsProceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Robotics, Control and Vision Engineering10.1145/3608143.3608147(18-24)Online publication date: 21-Jul-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3608143.3608147
Francescon RCampagnaro FFavaro FGuerra FZorzi M(2023)Software Defined Underwater Communications: an Experimental Platform for ResearchOCEANS 2023 - Limerick10.1109/OCEANSLimerick52467.2023.10244494(1-6)Online publication date: 5-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/OCEANSLimerick52467.2023.10244494
Pal ACampagnaro FAshraf KRahman MAshok AGuo H(2022)Communication for Underwater Sensor Networks: A Comprehensive SummaryACM Transactions on Sensor Networks10.1145/354682719:1(1-44)Online publication date: 8-Dec-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3546827
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Acoustic modem for micro AUVs: design and practical evaluation
1. Computer systems organization
  1. Embedded and cyber-physical systems
    1. Embedded systems
    2. Robotics
      1. Robotic autonomy
2. Hardware
  1. Communication hardware, interfaces and storage
    1. Wireless devices

Recommendations

Reconfigurable acoustic modem for underwater sensor networks
WUWNet '06: Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Underwater Networks

There is a growing interest for underwater sensor networks where long term monitoring of water masses around the world for scientific, environmental, commercial, and military reasons is desired. In this paper we will present the concept of a highly ...
Read More
ahoi: Inexpensive, Low-power Communication and Localization for Underwater Sensor Networks and μAUVs

The recent development of small, cheap AUVs enables a plethora of underwater near- and inshore applications. Among these are monitoring of wind parks, detection of pollution sources, water-quality inspection, and the support of divers during disaster ...
Read More
Poster: Affordable Acoustic Modem for Small-Sized Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
EWSN '16: Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Embedded Wireless Systems and Networks

The development of small, cheap AUVs offers a plethora of applications for underwater inshore monitoring. For online reporting and controlling as well as swarm interaction, communication is required. We present a prototype of an acoustic modem that is (...
Read More

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

WUWNet '16: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Underwater Networks & Systems

October 2016

210 pages

ISBN:9781450346375

DOI:10.1145/2999504

General Chairs:
Payman Arabshahi
University of Washington
,
Dajun Sun
Harbin Engineering University
,
Wen Xu
Zhejiang University

Copyright © 2016 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

Sponsors

ASC: Acoustical Society of China
SIGMOBILE: ACM Special Interest Group on Mobility of Systems, Users, Data and Computing
ACM: Association for Computing Machinery

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 24 October 2016

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Conference

WUWNET '16

Sponsor:

WUWNET '16: International Conference on Underwater Networks & Systems

October 24 - 26, 2016

Shanghai, China

Acceptance Rates

WUWNet '16 Paper Acceptance Rate 53 of 75 submissions, 71%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 84 of 180 submissions, 47%

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

22
Total Citations
View Citations
269
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)24
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)1

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Golkowski AHandte MMarron PWedemeyer ARobert J(2023)A low-cost binaural hearing support system for mobile robotsProceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Robotics, Control and Vision Engineering10.1145/3608143.3608147(18-24)Online publication date: 21-Jul-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3608143.3608147
Francescon RCampagnaro FFavaro FGuerra FZorzi M(2023)Software Defined Underwater Communications: an Experimental Platform for ResearchOCEANS 2023 - Limerick10.1109/OCEANSLimerick52467.2023.10244494(1-6)Online publication date: 5-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/OCEANSLimerick52467.2023.10244494
Pal ACampagnaro FAshraf KRahman MAshok AGuo H(2022)Communication for Underwater Sensor Networks: A Comprehensive SummaryACM Transactions on Sensor Networks10.1145/354682719:1(1-44)Online publication date: 8-Dec-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3546827
Coccolo ECampagnaro FTronchin DMontanari AFrancescon RVangelista LZorzi M(2022)Underwater Acoustic Modem for a MOrphing Distributed Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (MODA)OCEANS 2022 - Chennai10.1109/OCEANSChennai45887.2022.9775308(1-8)Online publication date: 21-Feb-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/OCEANSChennai45887.2022.9775308
Tanaka H(2022)Cosmic time synchronizer (CTS) for wireless and precise time synchronization using extended air showersScientific Reports10.1038/s41598-022-11104-z12:1Online publication date: 30-Apr-2022
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11104-z
S. ADhongdi S(2022)Review of Underwater Mobile Sensor Network for ocean phenomena monitoringJournal of Network and Computer Applications10.1016/j.jnca.2022.103418205:COnline publication date: 1-Sep-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.jnca.2022.103418
Schott DGabbrielli AXiong WFischer GHöflinger FWendeberg JSchindelhauer CRupitsch S(2021)Asynchronous Chirp Slope Keying for Underwater Acoustic CommunicationSensors10.3390/s2109328221:9(3282)Online publication date: 10-May-2021
https://doi.org/10.3390/s21093282
Morozs NMitchell PZakharov Y(2021)LTDA-MAC v2.0: Topology-Aware Unsynchronized Scheduling in Linear Multi-Hop UWA NetworksNetwork10.3390/network10100021:1(2-10)Online publication date: 25-May-2021
https://doi.org/10.3390/network1010002
Francescon RCampagnaro FCoccolo ESignori AGuerra FFavaro FZorzi M(2021)An Event-Based Stack For Data Transmission Through Underwater Multimodal Networks2021 Fifth Underwater Communications and Networking Conference (UComms)10.1109/UComms50339.2021.9598153(1-5)Online publication date: 31-Aug-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/UComms50339.2021.9598153
Cerqueira LVieira AVieira LVieira MNacif J(2021)A cooperative protocol for pervasive underwater acoustic networksWireless Networks10.1007/s11276-021-02550-027:3(1941-1963)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11276-021-02550-0
Show More Cited By

View Options

Get Access

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Table of Contents