Abstract:

Contemporary undersea acoustic ranges can be used as undersea local area networks to support cellular acoustic communication with mobile and fixed platforms and for associated local and remote sensing measurements. Bidirectional range nodes, particularly those containing multiple receiver hydrophones, inherently support high-speed acoustic communication with SSNs, UUVs, or other network users, and the range area of coverage can be used as an undersea cellular local area network. This talk will present an overview of acoustic local area network (ALAN) technology and highlight its compatibility with deployed and proposed ranges. A network communications protocol suitable for simultaneous communication with multiple platforms will be presented and shown to be compatible with the proposed East Coast Shallow Water Training Range. Experimental results in acoustic communication and networking relevant to range applications will be summarized. Adding an acoustic communication capability to a range greatly expands its usefulness. The talk will describe several applications ranging from SSN communications to cooperative UUV behaviors. Several related efforts are currently under development and ready for transition to an undersea range network. High-resolution signal processing required for acoustic communications also allows the use of range nodes for undersea remote sensing. Several applications of ranges to remote sensing of sound speed, current, and turbulence are realizable as extensions to processing required to support acoustic networking. An example network application for mapping current flows will be discussed, with extensions to travel-time tomography for sound speed inversion and scintillation tomography for volume mapping of turbulence.