Communication system for a deepsea robot

Abstract

In this report the analysis of underwater communication using electric quasi-static fields is undertaken, in which key aspects that influence the performance the communication between a transmitting and receiving electrode is examined. A mathematical model was proposed for the transmission and reception of the quasistatic field and the expected amount of atmospheric noise at the receiving electrode. The quasi-static model of the electric field is verified using a measurement setup, which entailed the measuring of transmission and reception between electrodes and the impedances and noise of different types of electrodes. In small box of water (30L) it was shown that the quasi-static model matches the measurements and the size of electrodes influences the transmission and reception. In general, decreasing the resistance of the transmitting electrodes allows for the charge to be easily transferred from the electrode to the water increasing the amount of transferred power into the water and by reducing the impedance of the receiver reduces the noise measured at the input.