5 Mbps optical wireless communication with error correction coding for underwater sensor nodes

One issue with underwater sensors is how to efficiently transfer large amounts of data collected by the node to an interrogating platform such as an underwater vehicle. It is often impractical to make a physical connection between the node and the vehicle which suggests an acoustic or optical wireless solution. For large amounts of data, the high bandwidth of underwater optical wireless is an advantage. A small, low-cost platform to demonstrate the potential of an optical wireless communications interface for underwater sensor nodes is demonstrated. To enhance the reliability and robustness of the optical wireless communication digital signal processing and error correction techniques are used. The system was tested in 3 and 7.7 meter tanks at 5 Mbps with the turbidity of the water controlled by the addition of Maalox.