Invited Speech
01

Prof. Xiaoxiao Zhuo | Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Title: AUV Meets Integrated Communication and Detection for Underwater Acoustic Networks: Opportunities and Preliminary Study
Bio:
Xiaoxiao Zhuo received the B.E. degree in Information Science and Electronic Engineering and Ph.D. degree from Zhejiang University in 2017 and 2022, respectively. Since 2022, she has been a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. During 2021-2022, she was a Visiting Ph.D. Student with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. Her current research interests include media access control protocols, cross-layer design, and resource management for underwater acoustic communication networks. She has published more than 15 academic papers. She served as the TPC Co-chair of the VTC-Fall 2023 and served as the reviewer of IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, etc.
Title: AUV Meets Integrated Communication and Detection for Underwater Acoustic Networks: Opportunities and Preliminary Study
Abstract:
With the prosperous development of underwater technology, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), as highly maneuverable and controllable underwater working devices, have played an important role in ocean exploration, such as monitoring and protecting marine environments, exploring ocean resources, underwater search and rescue, and marine disaster detection. To meet the requirement of these applications, detecting and communication, as two fundamental functions, have been regarded as indispensable capacities of the AUV to enable the information transmission between AUVs and detecting the underwater environment. Traditionally, the communication and detection equipment are individually deployed on AUVs, resulting in substantial occupied space, low spectrum efficiency, and complex mutual interference. With acoustic waves as signal carriers, underwater acoustic communications (UAC) are the main approach for long-range wireless underwater communications and sonar detection is the principal means for broad-scale detection of targets and environmental parameters. Underwater acoustic communication and detection have similarities in the hardware modules, channel characteristics, and signal processing methods. As such, the detection and communication systems for underwater acoustic networks (UANs) can be jointly designed and optimized with shared hardware modules, common spectrum, joint signal processing methods, and information sharing. Motivated by this, this paper will present the possible opportunities and challenges of AUVs empowered integrated underwater acoustic communication and detection networks (UCDNs). Then a preliminary study in UCDNs is proposed, i.e., multiple AUVs collaboratively collect data from sensor nodes while detecting the environment to avoid obstacles along the trajectory.
02

Prof. Meiwei Kong | Tongji University
Title: Research Progress of Underwater Wireless Optical Communication and Detection Technologies for Ocean Observation Network
Bio:
Meiwei Kong is a Research Fellow at the State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, School of Ocean and Earth Science, Tongji University. She serves as Director of Marine Technology and Deputy Director of the Department of Marine Geology. She is a team member of the "China National Scientific Seafloor Observatory" project and hosts the 2021 Shanghai Leading Talents (Overseas) Young Talent Project. She received the Ph.D. degree in marine information science and engineering from Zhejiang University, China in 2018. During 2018–2021, She was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Photonics Laboratory in the Division of Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences & Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Her research interests are digital signal processing, underwater wireless optical communication system and network, acoustic-optical-radio-frequency hybrid satellite-air-ground-ocean wireless communication networks, underwater wireless optical power transfer, underwater target detection, and underwater acquisition, pointing, and tracking. She is the author or co-author of over 50 technical papers published in scientific journals or presented at international conferences.
Title: Research Progress of Underwater Wireless Optical Communication and Detection Technologies for Ocean Observation Network
Abstract:
The future development direction of the ocean observation network involves the flexible deployment of fixed or mobile observation nodes in a larger space on the basis of fixed observation based on photoelectric composite cables. Wireless communication technologies will be employed to facilitate information exchange between the backbone network and the wireless observation nodes within the ocean observation network. This will enable three-dimensional observation coverage of critical sea areas and even the entire ocean. In this context, it is urgent to accelerate the development of marine wireless communication technologies. Compared with traditional underwater acoustic communication, underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) offers several advantages, such as high bandwidth, low latency, good confidentiality, and so on. In addition, it is of great significance to explore high-precision underwater target detection technologies, which play a crucial role in the information processing within the ocean observation network and the establishment of UWOC link. When compared with underwater sonar detection, underwater optical detection provides superior visualization and higher resolution capabilities. This report will introduce the research progress and future research direction of underwater wireless optical communication and detection technologies applied in ocean observation network.
03
Prof. Yan Wei | Zhejiang University
Title: New Concept Biomimetic Stingray-like AUV: Autonomous Underwater Helicopter and Underwater Acoustic Communications
Bio:
Yan Wei received the B.S. and M.Sc. degrees from Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2004 and 2007, respectively, both in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, and the Ph.D. degree in Marine Technology from Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands, in 2012. Since 2012, she has been with the Ocean College at Zhejiang University and currently is an associate professor. Her recent focus has been the flow noise and its influence in underwater acoustic communications, ocean observatory networking and cross-medium communication. She is the recipient of over twenty projects funds, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang, Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation, et al. She has more than 30 publications and 10 patents.
Title: New Concept Biomimetic Stingray-like AUV: Autonomous Underwater Helicopter and Underwater Acoustic Communications
Abstract:
The demand for ocean exploration down to the deep seafloor, for instance, ocean resource exploration and ocean observations, has promoted innovations in underwater technology. Underwater unmanned vehicles are urgently required to be deployed and operate on the seafloor. Because most underwater vehicles are unable to operate on the seafloor and even have difficulty reaching there, we developed a seafloor-resident autonomous underwater helicopter (AUH). In this report, we introduce the new idea and design of AUHs and discusses the pros and cons of AUHs in comparison with other underwater vehicles. We verify the importance of developing new facilities to enable mankind to easily operate close to the seafloor. Further, underwater acoustic (UWA) modem used in AUH is also introduced. This self-developed cross-platform UWA modem with long-distance and high-speed communication capability has been proven to achieve the best performance worldwide. The achievement was elected as one of the top ten ocean tech progresses in China of 2021 by five national first-level societies, including the Chinese Society for Oceanography, etc.
04

Prof. Hongyan Fu | Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University

Bio:
Dr. Fu is currently a tenured-associate professor, deputy director of Research office, and director of Nano-fabrication platform, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (SIGS), Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, China. From 2010 to April 2017, Dr. Fu was a founding member and leading the advanced optic communications research at Central Research Institute, Huawei. His research interest focuses on integrated photonics and its related applications for communications and sensing, including optical wireless communication, LiDAR and silicon photonics, etc. He is a senior member of IEEE, Optica and life member of SPIE. He is the founding advisor of Optica/IEEE Photonics Society/SPIE Student Chapters at Tsinghua SIGS, Tsinghua University. He has authored/coauthored over 300 journal or conference papers, 3 book chapters, over 80 granted/pending China /Europe/Japan/ US patents.
Title: Research Progress on Underwater Optical Wireless Communication and Positioning Technologies
Abstract: We present our research progress and applications of underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) and positioning technology (UOWP), which is a promising solution for underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs). We propose and demonstrate novel schemes for UOWC as well as UOWP systems. For the first scheme, we investigate the impact of bubble-induced turbulence on polarization multiplexing (PolMux) based UOWC links and proposes pairwise coding techniques to mitigate the effects of subchannel and subcarrier signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) imbalance, achieving a high data rate of 8.58 Gbps. For the second scheme, energy and spectral efficient index modulation (IM) with discrete Hartley transform (DHT) based orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been presented to provide better flexibility of spectral and energy efficiency (SE/EE) to UOWC and offers higher robustness to the ICI effect. Utilizing this scheme, up to 50% spectral efficiency improvement compare to discrete Fourier transform-based OFDM （DFT-OFDM） and DHT-OFDM with better performance over UOWC system is demonstrated. For the third scheme, we present a dual-hop system that extends the coverage area of UWSNs with mobile nodes, using a grade-index plastic optical fiber (GI-POF) link and a wireless link. The system enables high-speed and flexible uplink transmission, downlink transmission and positioning with mini-LED and high-power LED sources, and supports multi-user signal transmission with time frame design and code division multiplexing access (CDMA). We will compare and analyze the advantages and disadvantages, performance indicators and application scenarios of the three schemes, and discuss the future research directions and challenges of UOWC and UOWP technologies.

05

Prof. Sun Zhe | Northwestern Polytechnical University

Bio:
Sun, Zhe is an associate professor at Northwestern Polytechnical University and a postdoctoral fellow at the FSU Jena/Helmholtz Institute Jena in Germany. He was recognized as a young scholar in western China and was affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He holds a prominent position as the designer of the National Key Research and Development Program. His extensive research experience lies in the field of optical/laser detection. Over the course of his career, he has taken charge of several significant projects, including the special project under the national key research and development program. He has also contributed to the Western Light Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China and German Postdoctoral Exchange Program, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany´s Excellence Strategy. Sun, Zhe's published over 40 papers and applied/authorized of 15 invention patents. He developed multi-model lasers and applied in numerous domestic scientific research units.
Title: AUV optical docking based on intelligent measurement of guided light inclination
Abstract: Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) docking in underwater environments is particularly challenging due to the rapid attenuation of Global Positioning System and radio-frequency signals. Underwater optical docking technology is vital in ensuring the successful energy replenishment, data transmission, and command issuance of underwater AUV. Unlike traditional visual guidance technology, our optical intelligent docking system employs multi-quadrant angle measurement optical docking technology that boasts a longer detection distance and higher accuracy. It measures the declination angle data of the recycle station guided lamp through an area array detector and utilizes artificial intelligence technology to solve the three-dimensional pose data of the recovery station. This optical docking technology enables underwater AUVs to extend their operating hours, enhance efficiency, conduct operations with greater discretion, and operate with increased intelligence.

06

Prof. Chen Chen | Chongqing University

Bio:
Chen Chen received the B.S. and M.Eng. degrees from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, in 2010 and 2013, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2017. He was a Post-Doctoral Researcher with the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, from 2017 to 2019. He is currently a Research Professor with the School of Microelectronics and Communication Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China. His research interests include optical wireless communication, optical access networks, Internet of Things, and machine learning.
Title: Improving the performance of bandlimited underwater optical wireless communication systems
Abstract: Underwater optical wireless communication (UOWC) systems using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes (LDs) are naturally bandlimited, and hence it is of practical significance to address the band limitation issue of UOWC systems. In this speech, two techniques will be proposed to enhance the performance of bandlimited UOWC systems. One is efficient usable bandwidth extension using OFDM with interleaved subcarrier number modulation, and the other is spatial division transmission with pairwise coding.

07

Prof. Xu Lijun | Beijing Institute of Technology

Bio:
Xu Lijun, director of Ocean Information Technology Institute in school of information and electronics, Beijing Institute of Technology. His primary research area is underwater acoustic signal processing. Served as the project leader for "Latent wireless real-time communication system development", head of the sub-project for National Natural Foundation of China Key project "Acquisition and Processing of Marine environmental Parameters Based on Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network" and head of a number of national defense pre-research projects.
Title: The research of underwater acoustic communication machine based on underwater unmanned vehicle
Abstract: Recently, as there is growing attention on the exploitation of marine resources, the field of underwater unmanned vehicles (UUV) has entered a period of rapid development. To remotely control and monitor an UUV, it is necessary to establish a communication link using acoustic wave between the UUV and the surface control platform. The underwater acoustic (UWA) communication system is one of the most challenging systems due to its limited bandwidth, severe fading, strong multipath interference and significant Doppler shifts. The contributions of our team will be introduced as follow. In UWA communication, preamble detection plays a crucial role, as it initiates the communication system. To address the issue of preamble detection under poor channel condition, we propose a detection method based on lightweight neural network, which can achieve high detection performance with low parameter number and computational burden. Moreover, the interference of the underwater environment is the major detrimental factor to constrain the performance of UWA communication. In order to mitigate the impulse noise, we investigate an impulse-mitigation (IM) Kalman filter, which consider the effect of impulse noise, reduce the proportion of measurement of noise to final estimated state, and improve the performance of UWA communication system. And for equalization, we propose a direct-adaptation based bidirectional turbo equalization by combining the forward and backward turbo equalizer to eliminate error propagation effect. In terms of equipment, our team holds full intellectual property rights of our UWA communication machine, which is the smallest machine in the world. In 2018, we achieved high-speed UWA communication at a depth of 10,000 meters in the Mariana Trench with a communication rate of 6k bps. In 2023, we accomplished high-speed UWA communication spanning a distance of 100 kilometers in the South China Sea, with a communication rate of 1k bps, marking the longest publicly reported high-speed UWA communication achievement in the world.