GKCformer: Transformer-Based Signal Strength Forecasting Model for Underwater Backscatter Communication

Underwater backscatter is an emerging passive communication technology powered by underwater acoustic energy, which has emerged as a promising solution to the underwater energy problem. However, the backscatter mechanism causes the reflected signal strength to undergo periodic ups and downs due to the phase cancelation effect when the receiving end is in motion. Additionally, during the signal retro-reflective process, the reflected array signals deviate from the optimal beam direction when there is movement at the receiving end, introducing nonlinear attenuation into the signal strength. This article proposes GKCformer signal strength forecasting method for underwater backscatter systems. It is based on the original sequence and Gram angular field image modal design to add period information. It utilizes Transformer to rearrange and improve channel feature information, and Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks to make the fitting better. Experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms the classical model in mean squared error (MSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) metrics, which demonstrates its better performance in prediction accuracy.