Architecture of Physical Layer for Underwater Acoustic Network Based on Time Reversal

The application of time reversal technique in underwater acoustic communication can significantly reduce the intersymbol interference (ISI) caused by multi-path propagation, and increase the communication rate by using multi-path propagation feature in the ocean channel. However, a vertical linear array is required in the traditional time reversal communication, which results in high complexity and high power dissipation of multi-node communication networks. This paper proposes a distributed time reversal communication scheme by using the hard ware resources of independent nodes of the underwater acoustic network instead of vertical linear array in traditional method. Simulation result reveals that the proposed distributed time reversal system can realize the focusing of multi-path signal, and reduce the ISI caused by multi-path propagation. Moreover, better system performance may be achieved by combining this technique with adaptive equalization.