Underwater optical-acoustic interactive communication system and demonstration experiment

Along with the rapid development of underwater craft such as autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated vehicles, underwater wireless communication is a rapidly growing field. We developed an underwater wireless optical communication system; the divergence angle and communication rate of the system can be adjusted to adapt to different communication conditions. We also integrate the underwater acoustic communication and ranging module in the system for interaction. The innovative use of acoustic signals to interact with states and instructions is proposed, which is convenient for adaptive parameter adjustment to achieve optical alignment and establish the high-speed communication link. We have realized the functional verification in the water tank for what we believe to be the first time. Limited by the maximum diagonal length of 22 m of the water tank, the system can transmit an equivalent 66 m distance in Jerlov I water, with a highest communication rate of nearly 100 Mbps. It is seamlessly connected to the traditional 100 Mbps Ethernet without protocol adaptation. The results of this paper have important reference value for promoting the practical application of underwater optical communication.