Underwater Internet of Things: Industrial boon, biological headache

Technologies advancing the industrialization of the ocean are increasingly requiring autonomous operations, multi-nodal equipment interactions, and coordinated and accurate time and positioning data requirements within these interactions. Many of these interactions fall under the rubric of the “Underwater Internet of Things” (UIoT). While certain non-acoustic communication channels are available—wired and “Blue Light Laser,” due to the constraints of the underwater environments, the most practical communication channels will be acoustic. Unfortunately, this feature was not lost through the evolution of underwater biological communication, so the preponderance of acoustical UIoT signals will be concentrated in frequency bands most heavily used by marine animals. In “dry” computer networks, transmission channels could be biologically isolated by wire and electromagnetic energy, minimizing biological concerns. As in the “dry” communication channels, these acoustical anthropogenic communication channels will require a useful architecture, assuring that communication signals are not ambiguated by noise—either from ambient industrial or natural sounds or by concurrent sound transmission in colliding frequency bands. Due to the importance of bioacoustic communication in underwater habitats, care must be taken to minimize biological exposure and interference.