Early Results and Description of an Underwater Electric-field Sensing and Communication Experiment in Bedford Basin

Abstract

Even though human-induced electrical-and-magnetic field cannot compete with underwater propagation ranges achieved by acoustic waves, it offers definite and unique advantages making it worth exploring from a sensing and communication point of view. To this end, this publication presents an experimental setup and early efforts meant to further advance this research field. Configurations tested at sea in Bedford Basin (N.S.) included different geometries and separation distances between transmit and receive dipole antennas. A preliminary analysis reveals that measured data agrees generally well with the outputs of electro-magnetic models for water-to-water propagation paths. Moreover, seabed-to-seabed propagation losses seem to be much smaller than those experienced through seawater. This publication also provides an overview of future work elements.