Multiuser underwater communication with space-time block codes and acoustic vector sensors

Acoustic vector sensors and particle velocity channels have recently been shown to provide new opportunities in underwater communication. In this paper, a multiuser vector sensor communication system is proposed using space-time block codes. Compared to multiuser spread spectrum techniques, the proposed system is particularly suitable for highly bandlimited underwater channels. This is because it allows multiple high data rate users to communicate over the same bandwidth, without compromising their rates via bandwidth spreading. Theoretical formulation and Monte Carlo simulations are provided to show the usefulness of the proposed system.