A study on the short-range underwater communication using visible LEDs

Robust and high speed underwater communication is severely limited when compared to communications in terrestial. In free space, RF communication operates over long distances at high data rates. However, the obstacle in seawater is the severe attenuation due to the conducting nature. Acoustic modems are capable of long range communication up to several tens of kilometers, but it has low data-rate, high power consumption and low propagation speed. An alternative means of underwater communication is based on optics, wherein high data rates are possible. In this paper, the characteristics of underwater channel in the range of visible wavelength is investigated. And the possibility of optical wireless communication in underwater is also described. The LED-based transceiver and CMOS sensor module are integrated in the system, and the performance of image transmission was demonstrated.