An Efficient Pulse Position Modulation Scheme to Improve the Bit Rate of Photoacoustic Communication

Abstract

Wireless communication from air-to-underwater is quite challenging because of the lack of proper physical signal that propagates well in both air and water medium. Photoacoustic energy transfer mechanism is the most promising method for such cross-medium communication, where a high energy pulsed light is focused on the water surface, causing the generation of an acoustic signal inside the water. Since acoustic signals can travel a long distance inside the water, this method enables an airborne unit to reach nodes at increased underwater depth. Yet the achievable bit rate for this process is very low. When a pulsed laser light with a higher repetition rate is focused inside the water, a vapor cloud is generated around the focus point, which blocks subsequent generation of acoustic signal and consequently limits the achievable bit rate. This paper opts to overcome such a limitation by proposing a novel pulse position modulation technique which can avoid such generation of vapor cloud and increases the bit rate significantly.