Date: July 11, 2016

Source: ZHANG Zhen from the Key Laboratory of Information Technology for AUVs, CAS

Dr. SONG Aijun from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alabama (USA), delivered an academic report titled “Time Reversal Acoustic Communication in the Ocean” in the Institute of Acoustics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on June 29. Dr. SONG was invited by Prof. YAN Shefeng, Director of the Key Laboratory of Information Technology for AUVs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. More than thirty researchers and students attended.

Fast time-varying acoustic channel is one of the challenges in reliable underwater acoustic communication. In the report, Dr. SONG presented a new method of underwater acoustic channel modeling to simulate time-varying impulse responses over seconds to ten of seconds. The channel simulator used the acoustic parabolic equation combined with a linear surface wave model to simulate the dynamic ocean environment. The model output was more similar to the field measurement result than the classic Ray method.

Dr. SONG summarized his research in receiver design. Time reversal decision-feedback equalization was used in his hybrid receiver design. Experiment results of different data rates and ranges were showed in his presentation. Dr. SONG also presented some of his recent acoustic communication research efforts beyond time reversal processing and physical layer design such as the “INSPIRE project” about sensor network in the arctic. An experiment of this project would be expected in Thule, Greenland in 2017.

In the Q&A session, Dr. SONG answered some questions about his research asked by the audience and helped to understand his research better. Finally, Dr. SONG and the audience discussed about some promising research directions in underwater acoustic communication.

Dr. SONG Aijun is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. His current research interests include digital communication and signal processing techniques for radio frequency and underwater acoustic channels, ocean acoustics, sensor networks, ocean monitoring and exploration.