SoMAS - Acoustic Signal Processing and Communication Systems Through the Ocean, Soil, and Tissue

Andrew Singer, the Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook speaks to SoMAS at the Oceans, Sustainability, and Atmospheres colloquium on Friday February 2, 2024 on the topic "Acoustic Signal Processing and Communication Systems through Ocean, Soil, and Tissue." The talk is an interesting look at how the transmission environment (whether the ocean, the earth, or the human body) can alter our ability to send information through that medium, and the abstract is below. In addition to his research activities, he has founded two companies developing communication systems / instruments.

Abstract: Acoustic communications have enabled subsea connectivity in a manner that was truly unthinkable only a few decades ago. Modems are now an integral part of many aspects of manned and unmanned subsea systems, where autonomy or cabled systems were previously the norm. Some of the key differences between subsea acoustic communications research and its land-based RF cousin, lie in the tremendous variability of the environments of interest and the relative cost of acquiring experimental data for research and experimentation. In this talk, I will discuss some of the methods that we have learned that enable experimentation through data re-use and experimental replay. Some of these methods have enabled us to push the boundaries of what we previously thought was possible, in terms of data rate, range, and system mobility. This is in part because we have been able to vary some of these parameters beyond what would have been reasonable without fear of jeopardizing the data by overly optimistic performance. Leveraging such experimental frugality, we have been able to explore applications of our acoustic communications work into a range of previously un(der)explored arenas. Some of our work in collaboration with biomedical ultrasound researchers have enabled through-tissue acoustic communications at data rates that far exceed the capabilities of current implanted biomedical devices. Through collaboration with geotechnical researchers, we have also been able to explore the replacement of traditionally wired subterranean sensor networks with through-soil acoustic transmission, opening the possibility of embedded geosensing without susceptibility to fouling that plagues existing infrastructural monitoring systems. A central theme in each of these applications, is the ability to explore a wide range of operational parameters with a suitably-chosen set of experimental data collection opportunities.