Comparative study between Electromagnetic Waves and

Acoustic Waves for Underwater Communication

by
P.S.S.Pavan Ganesh, 201699004
In general, the communication system in underwater is wireless such as acoustic wave
communication, optical communication, electromagnetic (EM) wave communication etc.. Even
though, the acoustic wave communication is widely used over electromagnetic wave communication
in the underwater domain, later is also suitable for some special applications and has various
advantages than former. In this study, various parameters like modes of propagation, communication
range, limitations, affecting factors, noise, advantages, disadvantages etc. are compared between
Acoustic waves and Electromagnetic waves for underwater applications. Table I presents the
comparison between EM waves and acoustic waves.
Table I: Comparison between EM waves and acoustic waves for underwater applications

Parameter

EM Waves

Basic
Technique

Propagation through RF
Electromagnetic Waves

Carrier
frequency

Radio waves(30-300Hz) [01]

Microwaves(0-10GHz)[02,03]

Data Rates

Various data rates for different

applications(Refer Table II[05])

Modes of
propagation
(communication
links)

Acoustic Waves

Propagation through Sound wave

Underwater telephone(2-15kHz) [04]

Speech between divers approx.
3khz[01]

Typically 5-10kbps[06]
Acoustic wave modes of propagation
are divided based on distance of
propagation and are given as[01]:
Very long range(in the order of
1000 km)
Long(10-100km)
Medium(1-10km)
Short(100-1km)
Very short(below 100m)

Several modes of propagation of EM

wave for underwater communication are
given as[07][Fig.1]:
Direct
Up- over- down
Down -over up
Beach

Communication
Range

Range of EM wave propagation in water

is very less when compared with others.
Typical ranges are given as[02]
460m at 7MHz at a depth of 76m.
Approximately 30m at 150 & 14MHz
with attenuation of 2.6dBm

Limitations

Affecting
factors

Limited Transmission range

Susceptible to EMI[05]
Limited Power
Transmitter design
Receiver design

The electromagnetic wave will be

propagated in a waveguide structure

Acoustic wave propagation is proven

technology for its communication
range. Messages reach for greater
distances in water, and are up to 20
km[05]
Acoustic wave has poor performance
in shallow water(water depth is appox.
100m)[05]
Limited bandwidth[0b/s to 20kb/s][05]
Doppler shifts[06]

Propagation of acoustic wave in water

medium will be affected by following
factors:
Salinity
Temperature
Doppler Spread
Acoustic wave velocity depends on
salinity,
temperature and depth of water
which is made-up of metallic boundaries
and filled with dielectric medium. Here source. As the depth increases,
water will be the dielectric and surface, temperature decrease and salinity
bottom of the water source will acts as increases. The speed of sound increases
boundaries to the waveguide structure. as the depth increases. [Fig.2, Fig.3,
While it is travelling through the water Fig.4 & Fig.5] [06].
medium, it will be affected by many
factors; some of them are given below.
Suspended particles
[08]
Suspended particles will reduce the
velocity
of acoustic wave and increase
Conductivity of Water(salinity):
As the salinity increases, conductivity the BER.
also increases. This will increase the
attenuation and decrease the strength of
Noise:[10]
the EM wave.
Noise is another major affecting factor
in this category of communication. Sev Permittivity: [09]
Permittivity of medium is directly eral types of noises are:
related to EM wave propagation. Man-made noise. Caused by machinery
Permittivity of sea water varies with noise (pumps, reduction gears, power
different factors, which also affects wave plants, etc.), and shipping activity .
propagation under water.
Ambient Noise. Is related to hydrodynamics (movement of water including
Boundaries:
The structure of boundaries for water tides, currents, storms, wind, rain, etc.),
source will decide the reflection and seismic and biological phenomena.
refraction properties of EM wave at
boundaries. And also, the mode Absorption due to Sea water:[11]
Sea water is dissipative medium. The
propagation (dominant, degenerate) will
be decided on dimensions of the chemicals and minerals dissolved in sea
water causes the losses to acoustic
waveguide dimensions i.e. boundaries.
signals.
Causes for absorption:
*Relaxation of magnesium sulphate
(MgSo4) molecules below 100kHz.
*Relaxation of boric acid(B(OH)3)
molecules below 1kHz. Fig 006 shows
the increase in absorption coefficient for
various levels of MgSo4, B(OH)3) at
different temperatures.
Noise
causing

In water bodies, even though there are

no major sources of electromagnetic

In water sources, acoustic signals

will be more susceptible to other sound

factors

signals. The major causes for acoustic

noise in underwater communication are
categorized as:[10]
Man-made noise. This is mainly
waves, some of the natural phenomenon
caused by machinery noise (pumps,
may cause interference to the EM wave
reduction gears, power plants, etc.),
generated by the user. The natural
and shipping activity (hull fouling, ansources of those EMI(Electromagnetic
imal life on hull, cavitation).
Interference) are:[07]
Ambient Noise. Is related to hydrody EM noise due to microseisms(small
namics (movement of water including
earthquakes)
tides, currents, storms, wind, rain,
Ionospheric currents
etc.), seismic and biological phenom Wind waves
ena.
Swell(foam)
Ambient noise is also because of sounds
generated by marine animals like whales
and some type of fishes as a part of their
communication or self-protection.

Security

For underwater communication networks following security requirements

should be considered.[12]

Secure Time Synchronization

Time synchronization is essential in
many underwater applications such as
coordinated sensing tasks.
Secure Localization
Localization is a very important issue
There is not that much work done on
for data tagging. Sensor tasks such as
EM Wave security for underwater
reporting the occurrence of an event or
communication but, basic studies
monitoring require localization informareveals that EM waves are secure for
tion. Localization can also help in makdata transfer and communication.
ing routing decisions.
Secure Routing
Routing is specially challenging in
UWCN because the large propagation
delays, the low bandwidth, battery refills of underwater sensors, and the dynamic topologies. Hence, routing protocols should be charted to be energyaware, robust, scalable and adaptive.

The major hardware requirements for

EM wave propagation are antennas. As
we know, they are made up of conducting Major hardware parts for acoustic signal
medium; they should be kept in water generation are:[01,04]
Basic
proof chamber for appropriate results. Acoustic modems
hardware
Some of the antennas for underwater Hydrophones
requirements applications are given below[05]
Seismometers
Magnetic coupled loop antennas for Sonars
duplex submerged systems
Dipole antennas
Advantages

EM wave propagation has many

Acoustic wave communication has

advantages over others for underwater

applications. Some of them are:
[03,05,13]
Less sensitive to reflection and
refraction in shallow water
Prefers shallow water
Suspended particles have less impact
two major advantages for underwater
communication. They are:
Unaffected by turbidity and pressure
gradient of water
Long range communication
Immune to acoustic noise
No EMI
Velocity is more than (about 1500
times) acoustic waves
Works for non- line of sight
propagation
High Bandwidth up to 100Mb/s at
very close range
No effect on marine animals

Disadvantages

Even though EM waves have

numerous advantages, they have many
dis-advantages too. As they are applying
for water medium, their performance is
purely
depending
on
medium
characteristics.
Some
of
the
disadvantages are:

Limited Range [Fig.6]

High Attenuation due to conductivity

of water [Fig.7][02]
Susceptible to EMI
Large antenna sizes at low frequencies
High transmission power
Attenuation increases linearly with
frequency [13]

Specific
Applications

Acoustic wave communication is

proven technology; yet, it has many disadvantages for underwater applications.
They are:[05,06.10,11]
Adversely affected by turbidity,
salinity and pressure gradients
Multi-path propagation may be
responsible for severe degradation of
the acoustic communication signal in
shallow water.
Unable to penetrate behind an object
Multi-path propagation, Ray bending
Doppler spread:
The Doppler frequency spread can
be significant in UWA channels,
causing a degradation in the performance
Attenuation losses increases linearly
with frequency[06][Fig.8]
Low
SNR
for
long
range
communication[Fig.9]
Effect of acoustic signals on marine
animals
Noise Effect(Discussed earlier)

Some specific applications of EM Applications of acoustic waves are:[01,

waves for underwater communications 10]
are:[03]
Acoustic sensor networks
6.7MHz is suitable for wireless sensor Ocean sampling networks-networks of
network for environmental monitoring.
AUVs
2.4GHz can be used for very short
Pollution monitoring
distance communication with high
Distributed tactical surveillancedata rates
targeting and intrusion detection

Challenges

Remote control in off-shore oil

industry
Collection of scientific data recorded
at ocean-bottom stations
Speech transmission between divers
Mapping the ocean floor for detection
of objects

There are still some challenges to

overcome
in
acoustic
wave
In present scenario, EM wave communication
for
its
better
communication is not being used for any performance and efficiency. Some of the
type of underwater applications. But, can challenges are:[01,04]
be used if it overcome the following
Challenges posed by channel i.e.
challenges.[05]
strong absorption of sound signals by
Effects of EMI are yet to be quantified
sea water, multi-path and Fading.
Range limitation in deep sea
Interference suppression
environment
Multiuser underwater communications
Antenna design(size) for underwater
System self-optimization
RF systems
Developing modulation/coding
Transmit power
methods for improved bandwidth
efficiency

Thus the analogies between EM wave communication and Acoustic wave communication for
underwater applications were explored in various aspects.

ANNEXURE-I
LIST OF FIGURES & TABLES

Fig.1. A schematic of the various modes of propagation of low-frequency electromagnetic fields in the
coastal ocean( assuming here the source is located on the sea bottom) [07]

Fig.2: Temperature, salinity and sound speed profiles of north pacific sea [15]

Fig.3: variation of speed of sound with depth in sea [11,15]

Fig. 4: Sound absorption coefficient in sea water w.r.t. frequency, temperature, salinity and presence of
minerals [11]

Fig.5: Sound speed variation with temperature and salinity[16]

Fig.6: Distances vs. Path loss for EM Waves at f=1000Hz [14]

Fig.7: Frequency Vs Attenuation of EM Waves in different medium(conductor=sea water)[02]

Fig.8: Conventional propagation loss as a function of range for different frequencies at T=100c, S=
35psu, z=10m..[11]

Fig. 9: Frequency dependence of SNR of acoustic waves for various distances [01]

Table II: Example data rates for potential ranges of underwater EM wave communication.[Taken as it
is from[05]

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