HIGH-BANDWITH UNDERWATER DATA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20140363166A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 12/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Magseis FF, LLC
• Original Assignee: Fairfield Industries Incorporated
• Inventors: Lacovara, Philip
• Granted Patent: US 9,490,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/104
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/226 Optoseismic systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/112 Line-of-sight transmission over an extended range
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/1123 Bidirectional transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/503 Laser transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/6931 Automatic gain control of the preamplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/80 Optical aspects relating to the use of optical transmission for specific applications, not provided for in groups H04B10/03 - H04B10/70, e.g. optical power feeding or optical transmission through water
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 13/02 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the earth or a large mass of water thereon, e.g. earth telegraphy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 Multicarrier modulation systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2697 in combination with other modulation techniques

Abstract

An apparatus is described which uses directly modulated InGaN Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or InGaN lasers as the transmitters for an underwater data-communication device. The receiver uses automatic gain control to facilitate performance of the apparatus over a wide-range of distances and water turbidities.

Claims

1. A device for transmitting and receiving data optically through an aqueous medium, the device comprising:

an optical transmitter; and

an optical receiver,

wherein the optical transmitter and the optical receiver operate using light with wavelengths in a range of 400 nm-600 nm.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the optical transmitter and the optical receiver are enclosed in a waterproof container with one or more optical windows for transmission of light through the waterproof container into or out of the aqueous medium.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the optical transmitter comprises at least one solid state light source.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the light source is an InGaN based light source.

5. The device of claim 3, wherein the light source comprises an LED.

6. The device of claim 3, wherein the light source comprises a laser.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the device is configured to transmit data at a rate of about 10 Mbps or greater.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the device is configured to transmit data at a rate of about 100 Mbps or greater.

9. The device of claim 3, further comprising a controller configured to modulate an output of the light source by varying a drive current to the light source.

11. The device of claim 3, wherein the optical receiver comprises a photodiode.

12. The device of claim 3, wherein the optical receiver comprises at least one of a silicon photodiode, a silicon PIN photodiode, an avalanche photodiode, and a hybrid photodiode.

13. The device of claim 3, wherein the optical receiver comprises a photomultiplier tube.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the photomultiplier tube comprises a plurality of gain stages, and wherein an output is extracted from a gain stage prior to a final gain stage.

15. The device of claim 3, wherein the optical receiver is configured to use a measurement of optical signal strength to control a gain of an amplifier following an optical detector.

16. The device of claim 3, wherein the optical receiver is configured to use a measurement of optical signal strength to control a gain of an optical detector.

17. The device of claim 3, comprising at least one controller operatively coupled to one or both of the optical transmitter and the optical receiver, the at least one controller configured to implement at least one channel coding technique during transmission.

18. The device of claim 3, comprising at least one controller operatively coupled to one or both of the optical transmitter and the optical receiver, the at least one controller configured to dynamically adjusting one or more transmission parameters in response to one or more detected transmission conditions.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the dynamically adjusting one or more transmission parameters comprises controlling a gain of one or more amplifier elements in the device.

20. The device of claim 3, comprising at least one controller operatively coupled to one or both of the optical transmitter and the optical receiver, the at least one controller configured to implement at least one multi-carrier transmission modulation technique.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the at least one multi-carrier transmission modulation technique comprises optically based Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).

22. The device of claim 1, wherein a transceiver is configured to enter a power up state in response to a detected presence of another data transmission device.

23. The device of claim 3, wherein one or more optical detectors are used to sense a relative angle of a remote transceiver and further comprising a controller configured to align a local transceiver with the remote transceiver based on a signal from the one or more optical detectors.

24. The device of claim 3, wherein one or more sensors are used to detect a relative position of a remote transceiver and further comprising a controller configured to align a local transceiver with the remote transceiver based on a signal from the one or more sensors.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein the controller is configured to control a platform for the device based at least in part on the relative position.

26. The device of claim 3, wherein one or more optical detectors are used to sense a relative angle of a remote transceiver and further comprising a controller configured to control a plurality of transmitting sources to direct light to the remote transceiver based on a signal from the one or more optical detectors.

27. The device of claim 3, wherein one or more optical detectors are used to sense a relative angle of a remote transceiver and further comprising a controller configured to, based on a signal from the one or more optical detectors, select an anode in a multiple-anode photomultiplier tube and align a local receiver'"'"'s angular field of view with the remote transceiver.

28. The device of claim 3, wherein one or more optical detectors are used to sense a relative angle of a remote transceiver and further comprising a controller configured to provide guidance commands to a platform on which the device is mounted.

29. The device of claim 8, wherein the device is incorporated in an all-optical system for transmission of seismic data.

30. The device of claim 1, wherein one or more diffractive optical elements are used to collect an optical transmission beam.

31. The device of claim 1, wherein one or more diffractive optical elements are used to steer an optical transmission beam.

32. The device of claim 1, wherein one or more diffractive optical elements are used to shape an optical transmission beam.

33. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is mounted on or in at least one of a remotely operated vehicle, an autonomously operated vehicle, a submarine vessel, and an ocean bottom seismic node.

34. The device of claim 1, further comprising an acoustic communication device.

10. (canceled)

35. A method comprising:

optically transmitting data through an aqueous medium using light with wavelengths in a range of 400 nm-600 nm.

36. The method of claim 35, comprising generating the light using at least one solid state light source.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein light source comprises an LED.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein light source comprises a laser.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the step of optically transmitting data comprises transmitting data at a rate of at least about 10 Mbps.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the optically transmitting data comprises transmitting data at a rate of at least 100 Mbps.

41. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

optically transmitting data using one or more channel coding techniques.

42. The method of claim 36, wherein optically transmitting data comprises:

dynamically adjusting one or more transmission parameters in response to one or more detected transmission conditions.

43. The method of claim 36, wherein optically transmitting data comprises implementing a multi-carrier transmission modulation technique.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the multi-carrier transmission modulation technique comprises optically based Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).