Digital Communication Channel Model Analysis for AUV in Maritime Environment

Sun-ho Song, Sam-hwa Lee

Maritime R&D Lab LIG NEX1 Co., Ltd Seongnam city, Republic of Korea [email protected], [email protected]
Abstract Long-range maritime communications system is necessary to sweep the mines efficiently and safely. The communication channel analyses in maritime environment were similar to 2-ray propagation model in free space. The communication distance can be extended to approximately 10km~20km (depending on the type of the transmitted data). The results of this paper could be applied to similar weapon systems such as UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vehicle), ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), MDV (Mine Disposal Vehicle) and so on. Keywords-component; UUV; AUV; ROV; MDV; Underwater Vehicle; RF communication; mine sweeping

Hyun-chea Kim, Cheong-hwan Kim

R&D Division Team SOLiD TECHNOLOGIES, Inc Seongnam city, Republic of Korea [email protected], [email protected]

II.

COMMUNICATION ENVIRONMENT OF AUV

There are many handicaps to communicate between mother-ship and UUV in the maritime environment. Main reasons are physical limited factors such as antenna height, LOS(Line-of-Sight) and path loss[2, 3] and propagation path loss of the free space in the sea.

I.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, from around the world are developing AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle), because AUV is utilized in various fields such as resource exploration, marine exploration, military and so on. Especially, mine sweeping is one of important mission of AUV that is operated in the Navy. However, still theirs mine sweeping performance is not effective than ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), because ROV is able to real-time communicate to mother-ship by using optical fiber. Therefore, long-range maritime communications system is necessary to sweep the mines efficiently and safely. Unfortunately, the area without economical efficiency, especially the far distance sea, is much lower than that of a urban area(built-up area)[1]. In general, maritime communications system using commercial modem communication distance was less than 5km. Therefore, development of long-range maritime communications systems is need for AUV apart from the existing commercial network systems. In this paper, long-range maritime RF communication system is devepoed for AUV. Digital communication channel model is analised with test data that are obtained in the real maritime environment. The performance of communication system is tested by computer simulation.

A. Antenna Height (Equipted at mother-ship and AUV) AUV stay afloat on the sea to communicate with mothership. AUVs RF antenna height is limited within 1m for reduce the drag force and mother-ships RF antenna height is limited within approximately 20m because it must be deploy at mast. Therefore, marine environment channel model analysis that is different from free space channel model is necessary for longrange maritime communication. Figure 1 shows antenna geometry between AUV and mother-ship.

Figure 1. Antenna Geometry between AUV and Mother-ship

B. LOS(Lin-of-Sight) and Path Loss Line-of-sight propagation refers to electro-magnetic radiation or acoustic wave propagation. Electromagnetic transmission includes light emissions traveling in a straight line. The rays may be diffracted, refracted, reflected, or absorbed by atmosphere and obstructions with material and generally cannot travel over the horizon or behind obstacles [4, 5, 6, 7].

978-1-4577-2091-8/12/$26.00 2011 IEEE

Assuming a perfect sphere with no terrain irregularity, the distance to horizon from a high altitude transmitter can readily be calculated. Let R be the radius of Earth, h1 be the antenna height of AUV and h2 be the antenna height of mother-ship. Since the height of system is much less than the radius of the Earth. If the height is given in meters, and distance in kilometers. LOS distance d of this system is given by below equation [7].

2 Ls [dB] = 10 log 4d (k1 + k 2 f )

(3)

However, AUV and moth-ship have different antenna height; effective communication distance is less than above equation. Figure 4 shows difference between same antenna height system and AUV antenna geometry.

d g = 3.55( h1 + h2 )

(1)

The above analysis doesnt take the effect of atmosphere on the propagation path of the RF signals into consideration. In fact, the RF signals dont propagate in straight lines. Because of the refractive effects of atmospheric layers, the propagation paths are somewhat curved. Thus, the maximum communication range of this system, is not equal to the line of sight(geometric) distance. Under normal weather conditions the maximum service range increases by % 15[7]. Figure 2 and 3 show LOS ranges depend on Tx and Rx antenna height [7].

d e = 4.10( h1 + h2 )

(2)

Figure 4. A comparison of Propagation Path Loss in AUV environment and general communication model(Mathmetical)

III.

TEST FOR CHANNEL MODEL IN MARITIME ENVIRONMENT

Figure 2. LOS Range by Rx Antenna Height (in case of fixed Tx Antenna)

The test configuration is shown below. Optimal communication system requirements were derived by using real data obtained in maritime environment.

A. Antenna Geometry The height of Rx antenna which is installed at UUV is 0.3m and 1.0m. The height of Tx antenna which is installed at Mother-ship is 5m and 10m. This geometry is same as real operational environment of AUV. Then, LOS is calculated based on antenna pair of 0.3m and 10.0m. B. Tx Power Transmit power is limited by 1W, because the battery size and capacitance are limited. C. Data Type There are two types of data. The first one is 10kbps for command data transfer. Another is 200kbps for image data transfer. In general, commercial modem does not support the bands from 10kpbs to 200kbps.

Figure 3. LOS Range by Rx Antenna Height (in case of fixed Tx Antenna)

C. Propagation path Loss Propagation path loss between same antenna systems is given by below equation, in the maritime environment.

D. Test Procedure The test is performed with the following procedures; 1) Transmit known data through power amp. 2) receive data through the maritime channel. 3) measure distance between AUV and mother-ship by using signal attenuation 4) analysis channel padding margin of AUV communication system.

Figure 7. Received signal sencitivity at 5km

Maritime channel model is same as 2-ray distribution model, refer to attenuation versus distance curve that are real environment test, because of antenna geometry.

Pr = Pt 4
Figure 5. Maritime channel analysis procedure

Gl R Gr e j + l x + x'

(4)

IV.

ANALYSIS OF COMMUNICATION CHANNEL

R=

The results of the communication channel analysis for AUV between mother-ship in maritime environment were similar to 2-ray propagation model in free space [3]. Figure 6 shows the result of channel analysis.

cos 2 / sin Z r , Z = r 2 sin + Z r cos

(5)

for vertical polarization(we use this) for horizontal polarization R : reflection coefficient r : dielectric constant (80.4 in 20C water)

Figure 6. Received signal sencitivity at 10km

Figure 8. Geometry of 2-ray distribution

Table 1 shows the derived specifications that are based on test results.
TABLE I. Property Tx Power Antenna Gain SNR Thermal Noise Noise Figure Total Noise Rx Power Marginal Path-Loss Distance Antenna Height TABLE TYPE STYLES Data Type
10kbps (Command) 200kbps (Image)

V.

CONCLUSION

The results of the communication channel analysis in maritime environment were similar to 2-ray propagation model in free space. The communication distance can be extended approximately 10km ~ 20km (depending on the type of the transmitted data). The results of this paper could be applied to similar systems.

30dBm (1W) Tx : 0dB, Rx : 2.5dB -11dB@BER 10 -7dB@BER 10-6 -114dB@1MHz 10dB -104dBm -115dBm@BER 10 -111dBm@BER 10-6 -147.5dBm@BER 10-4 -143.5dBm@BER 10-6 20km@BER 10-4 16km@BER 10-6 Mother-ship : above 21.5m AUV : above 1m
-4 -4

30dBm (1W) Tx : 0dB, Rx : 2.5dB 2dB@BER 10-4 6dB@BER 10-6 -114dBm@1MHz 10dB -104dBm -102dBm@BER 10-4 -98dBm@BER 10-6 -134.5dBm@BER 10-4 -130.5dBm@BER 10-6 10.2km@BER 10-4 9km@BER 10-6 Mother-ship : above 10m AUV : above 1m [6] [4] [1] [2] [3]

REFERENCES
Young Gon Kim, A Propose on the propagation prediction model for service in the sea of CDMA mobile communication, 2001. A. Goldsmith, Wireless Communications. Cambridge University Press, 2005. A. J. Rustako, Jr., N. Amitay, G. J. Owens, and R. S. Roman Radio propagation measurements at microwave frequencies for microcellular mobile personal communications, IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., vol. 2, pp. 203210, 1991. Kyun-Hoi Kim, Youn-Do Tak, and Seok-Hyun Shin, Measurement of UHF-Band Propagation Loss for the Long Range Maritime Communication Environment, KEES Trans. Vol. 17-5, pp. 490-499, 2006. Kwang-Jin Ryu, Chang-Gyun Park, Prediction Model of Propagation Path Loss of the Free Space in the Sea, ASK Trans. Vol. 22-7, pp.579584, 2003. Young-Gon Kim and Chang-Kyun Park, A Propose on the Propagation Prediction Model for Service in the Sea of CDMA Mobile Communication, IEEK Trans. Vol. 38-6, pp. 106-112, 2001 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-of-sight_propagation

[5]

[7]