An End-to-End Signal Strength Model for Underwater Optical Communication

Abstract

In this paper we present a generic model of signal strength in underwater optical communication. The model includes light sources, detectors, amplifier and detector circuitry, optics as well as a simple extinction model of the water channel. The end-to-end model provides insights into optimization approaches for underwater optical modems and enables relative pose estimation between underwater optical transmitters and receivers. We instantiate our model to AquaOptical by determine its parameters and verifying the model prediction in a suite of pool experiments.