The application of rapid prototyping to underwater acoustic modem research and development

Rapid prototyping is well suited to address the signal processing design tasks encountered an research applications. The applications differ from defence or industrial applications in that the signal processing requirements are either evolving or poorly understood. In the field of underwater acoustic (UWA) communications, practical solutions, and thus their implementations, are still maturing. Sanders and WHOI are using the development of an improved UWA modem to exercise the processes and environments being developed at Sanders under the RASSP program. We provide an overview of the signal processing requirements for UWA communications. We outline the impact of these requirements on system design and describe the application of RASSP processes to system architecture specification. Finally, several potential paths for future development are described, both for system upgrades and for new applications.