A Novel Model for through ice Acoustic Data Transfer

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PIERSON-THESIS-2023.pdf (1.67 MB)
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Pierson, Sara
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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/72510
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Wireless communication in harsh, icy environments is an enterprising technological field. Through- and under-ice networking for autonomous sensing (AUV/ROV/glider surveys) and long-term climate-related environmental monitoring at Earth’s poles is a frontier that requires robust localization and data transmission. Meanwhile, missions envisioned by NASA to ocean worlds like Jupiter’s moon Europa require analogous systems for auxiliary through-ice communication (“comms”) and environmental profiling. While Radio Frequency (RF) comms systems are established on Earth and in space, they are not robust in mixed media (ice/water mixtures) and require large antennas for which maintenance, size, and power resources are high, posing technical challenges for remote operation. Alternatively, acoustic comms have extensive heritage in underwater applications, and attestation as reliable, low-power science sensing and environmental characterization devices through ice at Earth’s polar regions. Due to the budding nature of acoustics through-ice research, no link budgets or channel models currently exist for estimating and optimizing hardware and software needs. This knowledge gap hinders technological advancement and investigative use-cases, necessitating optimization and range/data capability estimation to occur in-situ—which, in harsh polar or remote environments, may become a costly, resource-intensive, and potentially iterative endeavor. To fill this gap, I have created a novel, adaptable model for acoustic attenuation and signaling through ice, incorporating acoustic and material physics, empirical equations, and data over a wide range of frequencies (~1-100kHz) for transmission loss parameters from in-situ characterization investigations. Using GNU Radio, the acoustic model is incorporated into a signal chain for which users input parameters of the target ice environment and signal type. Paired with a link budget, optimal system parameters may be estimated.
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2023-05-22
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