Title: Reliable Adaptive OFDM-based Underwater Acoustic Communications using Software-defined Acoustic Modems
Access/Technology provider: NATO STO, T-LOON
End User: Rutgers University, USA [Academia]
Dates: 03-08-2020 to 08-07-2021
Goals: This TNA aims at providing support and service to the futuristic applications in underwater acoustic networks with different Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. It investigates novel communication and cross-layering solutions to combat various underwater acoustic challenges by using reconfigurable algorithms employed in software-defined acoustic modems.
The applicant used the T-LOON to collect acoustic and environmental data over a long time period, thus exploring different seasons and conditions. This also allowed the applicant to have enough time to process the acquired data (in between experimental activities), thus modifying/tuning the execution of the experiments. Strict interaction between the applicant and NATO STO personnel was ensured to: 1) validate the provided signals and experimental requests; 2) verify the collected data; and 3) share the acquired data.
This project was led by Rutgers University (USA). The T-LOON was used to evaluate and validate a novel Cross-Layering Protocol for Scalable Video Transmissions (CLPSVT). This protocol included adaptive Scalable Video Coding (SVC) selection and adaptive Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) selection. Instead of maximizing the received video quality, cross-layer interactions were explored to maximize the effective video transmission data rate given the narrow bandwidth in the underwater environment. To select the MCS adaptively in the time-varying underwater acoustic channel, physical layer parameters were used as the input features to the Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNNs). Promising results were collected not only for unicast scenarios but also for multicast ones.
The scientific results have been submitted to the IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM), an international proceeding of a conference and will be further extended to be published in journals relevant to the wireless communication field as well as oceanic engineering (e.g., JOE and others).
The project provides a rich data set for fostering Master and PhD studies. Additionally, the sharing of this data set publicly with the Scientific Community will also be investigated in concert with the access provider (NATO STO).