Analysis of the Factors Affecting the Communication Between AUV and Acoustic Modem: From the Perspective of Experiments

Underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) could be more scalable with the help of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) by their self-control ability. However, continuous and reliable mobile acoustic communication is the bottleneck that limits the development of AUV-aided UWSNs. This paper analyzes three typical factors that impact the AUV communications based on the lake and sea test data, i.e., the doppler effect, signal strength weakening, and multipath interference. Meanwhile, we propose improvements for AUV and acoustic modem, respectively, in terms of AUV autonomous control and intelligent technology and underwater acoustic communication technology to improve mobile acoustic communication reliability.