Underwater Acoustic Communication Utilising Parametric Transduction with M-ary DPSK Modulation

Ming Zheng, Rodney F W Coates, Liansheng Wang, Richard Stoner School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering The University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham, B 15 2TT, UK

Abstract-A real-time M-ary Differential Phase-Shift Keying (MDPSK) communication system utilising parametric transduction has been constructed. The system employs a 50 kHz primary frequency and a 5 1Hz difference frequency. It has been tested in the Gulf of Lion and at Cap Ferrat in the Mediterranean Sea. Experimental results indicate that the system can be used in shallow water to realise real-time acoustic communications at ranges of tens of kilometres and can achieve data rates of 1, 2, and 3 kb s- for 2-, 4-, and 8DPSK respectively.

I. INTRODUCTION
One of the most important requirements for an underwater acoustic communication system is to achieve a high data rate with a reasonable level of reliability. However, this is hindered by multipath induced signal fluctuation and intersymbol interference (ISI). The approaches to overcoming multipath-induced problems have been summarised in [I]. The objective of the present work is to investigate the possibilities of using parametric transduction with differential signalling to combat these problems. Parametric transduction offers a solution to ISI. Parametric transduction occurs when two high intensity primary signals co-exit in water in front of the transmit transducer. The non-linear behaviour of the water results in the generation of a difference frequency component. The difference frequency sound wave may be considered to be radiated from a line array of acoustic sources distributed continuously through the interaction region. This virtual array is shaded exponentially in the process of conversion of the primary frequency waves to the difference frequency wave with increasing distance from the transmitter. The secondary source behaves as a taper end-fire array, its acoustic axis being normal to the face of transmitter. Its angular response decays monotonically with increasing directional angle, thus avoiding undesirable sidelobes. Since the length of the virtual array

spans many hundreds of wavelengths, the beamwidth of the array will be much narrower than would be achieved by a conventional array operating directly at the difference frequency. This property can be employed to combat macromultipath propagation. Furthermore, the wide-band nature of the parametric conversion process enables it to be used for high data rate communication or wide-band signal processing techniques such as spread spectrum. Differential signalling provides a solution to signal fluctuation. In a Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK) communication system, the phase of the current symbol is compared with the phase of the preceding symbol. The channel characteristics can be considered as being frozen over a symbol period which is only 2 ms for a DPSK system with a 5 kHz carrier and a 1 ksymbol s-l data rate. Since the channel fading rate is much slower than the signalling rate, the differential phase fluctuation due to the channel change in a symbol period is negligible. Therefore, differential signalling can be employed to combat the signal fluctuation. Furthermore, M-ary differential signalling has a higher bandwidth efficiency than M-ary Frequency Shift Keying (MFSK) modulation and also it can use noncoherent techniques to demodulate a received signal. Differential detection avoids carrier recovery and achieves fast synchronisation and is thus suitable for multipath fading channels.

11.T H E BASS 50 PARACOM LINK

To achieve a transmission distance of the order of tens of kilometres, the secondary frequency should be in the low kHz region [2], since signal attenuation loss will then be greatly reduced. BASS 50 PARACOM uses a 50 kHz primary frequency and a 5 kHz secondary frequency and it employs 2-, 4- and 8-DPSK. Its major features are shown in Table 1.

A. Transmitter
For the system to be applicable to various situations, both the summing and the multiplying methods of parametric transduction have been used.

0-7803-3519-8/96 $5.00 0 1996 IEEE

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Table 1 Parameters of BASS 50 PARACOM Higher Primary 42.5 or 52.5 or 55 kHz Lower Primary 37.5 or 47.5 or 50 kHz fd Secondary 5 kHz B Bandwidth 1 kHz R, Signalling Rate 1 ksymbol s- RI, Data Rate M=2 1 kb s- M=4 2 kb s-l M=8 3 kb s-l Sl,, , Sll Source Level @ f,,f , 225 dB re lpPa

frequencies, the only difference is that the present modulator uses a coherent local oscillator coS(27cfCt).

f, f,

B. Receiver
Although two transmitters have been used for BASS 50 PARACOM system, nevertheless, after the parametric downmixing propagation, both transmitters generate the same difference frequency signal. Therefore, a single receiver will be suited to both transmitters. The BASS 50 PARACOM receiver is, thus, presented in Fig. 3 in a block diagram form. Here, the BPF has a centre frequency of 5 kHz, and the LPFs have a cut-off frequency of 1 kHz that corresponds to a symbol rate, UTs, of 1 kb s- 1 .

Summing method the transmit system using this method is shown in Fig. 1. The system employs two primary frequencies. A 50 kHz sinusoid is modulated by the digital data sequence and is added to a 55 kHz continuous sinewave. The 50 kHz and 55 kHz components are phase locked together in order to avoid phase shift between them. As shown in Fig. 1, there are two ways by which the modulated signal can be radiated into the water. The first method involves directly applying the summed signal c o s ( 2 n ~ t + 8 , )+ cos(2nf2t) to the entire set of elements in the transmit array. For the second method, the and unmodulated modulated signal cos(27i&t signal cos(2nf2t) are amplified by two amplifiers and applied to separate, interleaved staves of array elements. The latter approach is less demanding of power amplifier linearity. Multiplying method The transmitter using this method is shown in Fig. 2. It can be seen that the system described here is similar to that of Fig. 1. Apart from the difference of the transmit primary and secondary

C. Transmit Arrays
Two different transmitter arrays were employed during the two sets of field trials described in Section 111. The first parametric source, a circular transducer with a 0.8m diameter, was provided by SACLANT ASW Research Centre, Italy during the Modal Lion project conducted during the summer of 1995. The transducer had a centre frequency of 40 kHz and was capable of delivering primary and secondary source levels of approximately 230 dB and 190 dB respectively. The second transmitter array, shown in Fig. 4 and designed and built at the University of Birmingham, has a rectangular shape and consists of 18 staves each containing 6 Tonpilz elements. Each element can deliver 20 watts acoustic power. Thus, the array has 2.2 kW acoustic power capacity, which corresponds to a total primary source level of 23 1 dB.

+e,)

fi+ tfi
Eprom Stored or PC Symbol Differential Coding

Tx

t
COS(27tht)

BPF

t
PLL

Fig. 1. The block diagram showing DPSK parametric transmit system with primary frequenciesf,=50 kHz,f,=55 kHz and
symbol duration T,=l ms.

(8,: transmit differential encoded phase)

833

I
Eprom Stored

10,;

Tx

Fig. 2. The block diagram showing DPSK parametric transmit system withf,=50 k H z , f ~ 5 kHz and T,=l ms. (8, : transmit differential encoded phase)

vs

Sampler 5 kHz

Differential Decoding
A

Log1c Circuit Parallel

- 7 b ~

4
V

4 4

to Serial

PC

Fig. 3. The block diagram showing DPSK receive system with difference frequencyf,=5 kHz and T,=l ms
A

(8, : estimated phase)

190 mm

1 1 1 . SEA TRIALS
A. Gulfof Lion Trial
The experimental arrangement is shown in Fig. 5. The projector was deployed 4 m above the sea bed.
. .
.

..

2Jm

'

,..,<,

8ll,k

Fig. 4 The arrangement of array elements

Fig. 5. Experimin;set-up for BASS 50 PARACOM at Gulf of Lion, Italy

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The generated parametric signal was detected by a 64-element line array. For simpiicity, only the element, 14 m above sea bed, was used. A typical received signal is shown in Fig. 6. From which it can be observed that there existed multipath propagation, which is due to multiple reflection of sound from the sea bed.

present depending on what direction the transmit array points and which receive array element is being used.
Shorebase T"it
anay

........... ...................... ..............................

IlJUm

...,,., ...,,,,.,......,,,.............

Amplitude 1,

Fig. 7. Experimental set-up for BASS 5 PARACOM at Cap Ferrat, South of France

Fig. 6. Difference frequency waveforms at the Gulf of Lion trial,fc=40 kHz, f d =5 kHz with 5 cycles In this hostile ultra-shallow water environment with Range to Depth Ratio (RDR) >loo, successful parametric communication was achieved by use of the BASS 50 PARACOM system. During the experiment it was found that word error rate of the system varied from time to time, and one measured word error rate was for 2-DPSK at SNR of approximately 20 dB. This value is slightly worse than that of theoretical prediction. This discrepancy could possibly be attributed to multipathinduced IS1 which, although reduced, cannot totally be eliminated using parametric transduction.

Ray Trace and Channel Sounding The sound speed profiles were obtained in situ with Expendable Bathythermographs (XBTs). One typical velocity profile is shown in Fig. 8 (a). A ray trace programme developed at the University of Birmingham was used to predict the sound propagation. For the measured sound speed profile, the ray trace diagram is shown in Fig. 8 (b). From which it can be seen that as the transmitter is deployed below the thermocline, a direct path propagation from the transmitter and the receiver is always possible.
Ray trace diagram

B. Cap Ferrat Trial

The final PARACOM trial took place at Cap Ferrat, South of France in November 1995. The experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 7. In this experiment the transmit array, shown in Fig. 4, was deployed 35 m below the surface. The main beam of the array pointed 4" towards the sea bed. A reference hydrophone was deployed 30 m away from the transmit array to monitor the transmit signal. The vertical line array AV1, approximately 1750 m from the transmit site, was used to detect the signal. There are 43 hydrophone elements in AV1 with the depths from 139 m to 177 m. A digital optical cable is used for signal transmission from the array to the land station. The experimental geometry is such that there are no bottom reflected paths hitting the receive
elements. Refracted and surface reflected paths may be

Fig. 8. The sound speed profile (a) and the corresponding ray trace diagram (b) The results indicate that "direct path" signals can be received by the array AV1 with the transmit array pointing either towards the sea bed 4O-5O (direct path) or upwards to the sea surface 6"-7" (refracted path). For the above two cases a multipath-free propagation at the
difference frequency was established. Fig. 9 shows the

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magnitude of the difference frequency signal which has very low amplitude and phase fluctuations.
Amplitude

14

Fig. 9 The magnitude of channel impulse response at the difference frequency of 5 kHz

primary source level are 750 W and 225 dB for the half array, respectively. According to this data and the array directivity index DI (DI=28 dB for the half array), one can readily calculate out that the transmit efficiency is approximately 40 %, this figure is much lower than the efficiency of the transmit array, which has a value of about 70 %. The reason for this is that some power is lost in the 270 m long cable between the power amplifier and the array. Berktay and Fenlon's matched asymptotic range dependent solutions [3] are employed to predict the difference frequency source level. Using the above primary source level, the theoretical difference frequency source level, SL,, verse range, R, is obtained, and shown in Fig. 11. From Fig. 11 it can be seen that, in the far-field of the virtual array, the referred source levels given by both the Berktay and Fenlon solutions are very close and equal 184 and 183.5 dB, respectively. The measured SLd at a range of 1750 m in Cap Ferrat is 183 dB at 5 kHz difference frequency and is also shown in Fig. 11. Good agreement exits between the predicted and measured values of SL,.
2oo

It should be noted that during the experiment all the received secondary signals had only one direct path. This was presumed to be due to the superior sidelobe-free property of parametric transduction. However, the primary signals have different characteristics and one of the received primary waves is shown in Fig. 10.
1

: : 190 m .8 180
a
c
L

I
, ,

170

05

Amplitude

3 -

If

160

10

100 Range (m)

1000

10000

- Berktay

- - Fenlon

Measured

Fig. 11. The predicted difference frequency source level versus range,f,=5OkHz,fd=SkHz, SLh=SL1=225dB

U '

05

'

t(m)

13

25

Fig. 10. The magnitude of channel impulse response at the

primary frequency of 50 kHz

The difference frequency beampattems were measured by pointing the array 4" downwards (direct path) and 6" upwards (surface refracted path). Both these measurements gave similar results: the beamwidth is
approximately 3" in the vertical plane and 8" in the

Difference frequency sound measurements and predictions The primary frequency signal level of the BASS 50 PARACOM system was measured both in a tank and at the experimental site. The input electrical power and

horizontal plane. Fig. 12 shows the measured beampattems using the direct path. The predicted beampattems based upon the calculation of a three dimensional integral is also plotted in Fig. 12. Again, it can be seen that a good agreement between the measured and the predicted result is achieved.

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-10

15

-20

25

On 17th November, however, a relatively stable direct path was established allowing the colour image transmission to be examined. It was discovered that the received SNR for picture transmission was about 14 dB as only half of the array was used. One of the received pictures for 4-DPSK is shown in Fig. 13:The word error probability is plotted with the theoretical word error curve for 4-DPSK in the Fig. 14, from which it can be seen that the performance of BASS 50 PARACOM system was close to that predicted.
8 -B
4 2

-10

Angle (degree)

- Predioated

Measured

-30':
-10 -8

:
6

:
-4

: I :
-2
0

:
2
4

' 8

: '
8 10

Angle (degree)
Predicated Measured

I
d

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Fig. 12. The measured and predicted beampattems at the 5 kHz different frequency (a) in the vertical plane (b) in the horizontal plane MDPSK Communication The BASS 50 PARACOM system was tested from 9 November to 17 November 1995. Two types of data were used in the transmitter: a page from a classic underwater acoustics text and a picture of the Birmingham University logo. Both multiply and summing methods were employed for data transmitting. The text transmission was performed first. It was found that the measured word error probability varied from good ( to poor (1 O-') during the trial. This may be due to the following reasons: first, the received SNR for the text transmission was varying from about 30 down to 10 dB depending upon the prevailing weather conditions. For example, it was noted that, in the 4-5 high sea states on 16th November, the direct path was strongly affected by the sea surface and fluctuated severely. Second, ship noise was present from time to time due to the sea traffic around the experimental area, which reduced the
obtainable SNR in the receiver.

Fig. 13. Received image in the Cap-Ferrat by use of 4DPSK (SNR/bit=lI dB)
1E+OO

1E-01

1E-02

I
1E-03

I
2

1E-04

I
0

1E-05

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 SNR/bit (dB)

- Predicted (M=4)

Measured (M=4)

Fig. 14. Word error probabilities of BASS 50 PARACOM system in Cap Ferrat trial

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IV. SUMMERY
Parametric transduction is of potential value in shelf-sea communication applications where range to depth ratio is high. In particular, the sidelobe-free narrow beam of the difference frequency, obtained from a physically small transducer, provides the potential for a drastic reduction in the multipath interference in this situation. Moreover, differential signalling provides a further reduction of multipath interference. Due to the small size of the transmit transducer, parametric communication is ideally suited for unmanned underwater vehicle applications. A real-time M-ary Differential Phase-Shift Keying (MDPSK) communication system utilising parametric transduction has been built and tested. Experimental results show that the system can be used in shallow water to realise real-time acoustic communications at ranges of tens of kilometres and achieve data rates of 1, 2, and 3 kb s-l for 2, 4, and 8DPSK respectively. The major problem with parametric transduction is its low conversion efficiency. This problem may be compensated, for long distance transmission, by the low attenuation at the difference frequency. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors would like to thank Daniel Can0 of Thomson Sintra, France, and Dr. Orest Diachok of NATO SACLANTCEN, Italy for allowing the BASS 50 PARACOM system to be tested in the trials. This work was supported by European Union MAST Directorate under Contract MAST-CT 9 1005: project PARACOM. REFERENCES Coates, R., M. Zheng and L. Wang, The BASS 300 PARACOM Underwater Acoustic Communication System, IEEE J. Oceanic Eng., V01.21, No. 2, pp. 225-232, April, 1996. Coates R., & L. Kopp, The use of Parametric Transduction for Underwater Acoustic Communication: Project PARACOM, Proc. European Conference on Underwater Acoustics, Elsevier Applied Science, pp. 96-99, 1992. Elliott, A. G., The design and testing of non linear acoustic systems, Proc. Inst. Acoustics, Vol. 14, Part 3, pp. 53-98, 1992.

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