Acoustic transducers are traditionally used to generate underwater acoustical energy with the device physically immersed in water. Novel methods are required for communicating from an in-air platform or surface vessel to a submerged vessel. One possible noncontact downlink communication system involves the use of laser induced acoustic source. The most common mechanisms of opto-acoustic energy conversion are, by order of increasing laser energy density and efficiency, thermal expansion, surface evaporation and optical breakdown. The laser induced acoustic source inherently bears the obvious advantage of not requiring any physical transducer in the medium. At the same time, acoustic energy propagation is efficient in water, whereas optical energy propagate well in air, leading to a more efficiency opto-acoustic communication method. In this paper, an opto-acoustic underwater Communication system is described, aiming to study and analysis whether laser induced sound could achieve good performance for effective communication in practical application.

Date Published: 25 October 2016
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 10157, Infrared Technology and Applications, and Robot Sensing and Advanced Control, 1015720 (25 October 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2246733

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10157:
Infrared Technology and Applications, and Robot Sensing and Advanced Control