Experiments in sub-sea acoustic communication networks

Acoustic networks will form and enabling technology for the enhancement of many sub-sea activities. In particular those requiring multiple instrumentation, distributed over an area of the marine environment, will benefit from the development of robust networked communication structures. Such applications could include the monitoring of oil-well heads and pollution and seismic data gathering. This paper describes several sets of experiments that have been funded by the European Union, into the development of sub-sea acoustic communication networks. The work took place under the auspices of two projects, LOTUS and SWAN and is being exploited in a further current project, ACME