Journal of Radio Electronics. eISSN 1684-1719. 2025. ¹11
Full text in Russian (pdf)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30898/1684-1719.2025.11.25
Improving the performance of underwater system
I.B. Shirokov, E.I. Shirokova, N.A. Kosarev
Sevastopol State University, 299053, Sevastopol, Universitetskaya, 33
The paper was received October 7, 2025.
Abstract. The ways of improving the performance of an underwater ranging system are considered in this paper. It is proposed to simultaneously utilize two fundamentally different wave processes. This creates two operating channels for the phased ranging system. One channel is the reference channel, in which electromagnetic oscillations are emitted and received. The other channel is the information channel, in which hydroacoustic oscillations are emitted and received. It is proposed to emit and receive hydroacoustic signals at the operating frequency of ultrasonic acoustic transducers. Furthermore, it is proposed to modulate the ultrasonic signals with information signals in the audio wavelength band. This approach significantly reduces the weight and size of the range measuring system components. Furthermore, the use of modulated oscillations eliminates additional range determination errors arising due to the resonant nature of the acoustic transducers themselves, which inevitably arise during the operation of a phased ranging system. The system was simulated in MatLab, demonstrating the complete elimination of additional phase difference measurement errors arising in the ultrasonic frequency band. The working graphs directly taken from the simulation environment are presented in the paper. These graphs demonstrate that any changes in the phase of ultrasonic oscillations, caused both by the propagation of the oscillations in water and by the resonant nature of the acoustic transducers, are completely suppressed during demodulation at the receiving unit. An experimental prototype of a modulated oscillation receiver was manufactured and tested. A working diagram of the hydroacoustic channel receiver is presented. The operation of the hydroacoustic receiver of the range measurement system was verified experimentally. The experimental results fully coincide with the simulation results. Conclusions are made.
Key words: acoustic transducers, underwater ranging system, signal modulation, signal demodulation, phase difference measurement.
Financing: The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation and the Sevastopol Region, project number 24-29-20009.
Corresponding author: Shirokov Igor' Borisovich, shirokov@ieee.org
References
1. Inzartsev A.V. et al. Monitoring the seabed using intelligent data processing technologies from search devices on board an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle // Underwater research and robotics. – 2015. – No. 2. – P. 20-27.
2. Haugaløkken B.O. A. et al. Docking stations for net-crawling underwater vehicles in aquaculture net pens // OCEANS 2021: San Diego–Porto. – IEEE, 2021. – Ñ. 1-10.
3. Ageyev M.D. et al. Automatic underwater vehicles. – 1981.
4. Ageyev M.D. et al. Autonomous underwater robots. Systems and technologies. – 2005.
5. Lyakhov D.G., Smirnov S.V., Chudakov M.I. On the use of unmanned underwater vehicles in the offshore oil and gas production industry // Underwater research and robotics. – 2013. – No. 1. – P. 23-32.
6. Peña F.L., Orjales F., Deibe A. Development of a collaborative host-guest unmanned underwater vehicle docking system for inspection and maintenance of offshore structures // OCEANS 2023-MTS/IEEE US Gulf Coast. – IEEE, 2023. – Ñ. 1-5.
7. Shirokova E.I., Shirokov I.B. Positioning Autonomous Underwater Vehicles at its Moving and Berthing // 2023 Radiation and Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves (RSEMW). – IEEE, 2023. – Ñ. 444-447.
8. Shirokov I.B., Shirokova E.I., Kosarev N.A. Distance Measuring Under Water // 2024 IEEE Conference on Antenna Measurements and Applications (CAMA). – IEEE, 2024. – Ñ. 1-4.
9. Shirokov I.B., Shirokova E.I., Kosarev N.A. Distance Measurement Under Water // 2024 IEEE 9th All-Russian Microwave Conference (RMC). – IEEE, 2024. – Ñ. 58-61.
For citation:
Shirokov I.B., Shirokova E.I., Kosarev N.A. Improving the performance of underwater system of distance measurement // Journal of Radio Electronics. – 2025. – ¹. 11. https://doi.org/10.30898/1684-1719.2025.11.25 (In Russian)