Study of the optimum frequency at 2.4GHz ISM band for underwater wireless ad hoc communications

Abstract

Underwater communications at low frequencies are characterized by the low data rate. But in some cases wireless sensors must be placed quite close to each other and need high data rates in order to accurately sense an ecosystem that could be contaminated by invasive plants or hazardous waste. Most researchers focus their efforts on increasing the data transfer rates for low frequencies, but, due to the wave features, this is very complicated. For this reason, we propose the use of high frequency band communications for these special cases. In this paper we measure the optimum working frequency for an underwater communication in the 2.4 GHz range. We measure the number of lost packets and the average round trip time value for a point-to-point link for different distances. These measures will be performed by varying the data rate, the type of modulation and the working frequency. We will show that we are able to transmit higher data transfer rates, by using higher frequencies, than the using acoustic waves. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.