UNDERWATER COMMUNICATIONS WITH ACOUSTIC STEGANOGRAPHY: RECOVERY ANALYSIS AND MODELING

In the modern warfare environment, communication is a cornerstone of combat competence. However, the increasing threat of communications-denied environments highlights the need for communications systems with low probability of intercept and detection. This is doubly true in the subsurface environment, where communications and sonar systems can reveal the tactical location of platforms and capabilities, subverting their covert mission set. A steganographic communication scheme that leverages existing technologies and unexpected data carriers is a feasible means of increasing assurance of communications, even in denied environments. This research works toward a covert communication system by determining and comparing novel symbol recovery schemes to extract data from a signal transmitted under a steganographic technique and interfered with by a simulated underwater acoustic channel. We apply techniques for reliably extracting imperceptible information from unremarkable acoustic events robust to the variability of the hostile operating environment. The system is evaluated based on performance metrics, such as transmission rate and bit error rate, and we show that our scheme is sufficient to conduct covert communications through acoustic transmissions, though we do not solve the problems of synchronization or equalization.Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Underwater acoustic communications and adaptive signal processing

This dissertation proposes three new algorithms for underwater acoustic wireless communications. One is a new tail-biting circular MAP decoder for full tail-biting convolution (FTBC) codes for very short data blocks intended for Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT). The proposed algorithm was evaluated by ocean experiments and computer simulations on both Physical (PHY) and Media access control (MAC) layers. The ocean experimental results show that without channel equalization, the full tail-biting convolution (FTBC) codes with short packet lengths not only can perform similarly to zero-tailing convolution (ZTC) codes in terms of bit error rate (BER) in the PHY layer. Computer simulation results show that the FTBC codes outperform the ZTC codes in terms of MAC layer metrics, such as collision rate and bandwidth utilization, in a massive network of battery powered IoUT devices. Second, this dissertation also proposes a new approach to utilizing the underwater acoustic (UWA) wireless communication signals acquired in a real-world experiment as a tool for evaluating new coding and modulation schemes in realistic doubly spread UWA channels. This new approach, called passband data reuse, provides detailed procedures for testing the signals under test (SUT) that change or add error correction coding, change bit to symbol mapping (baseband modulation) schemes from a set of original experimental data --Abstract, page iv

Robust frequency-domain turbo equalization for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communications

This dissertation investigates single carrier frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE) with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels for radio frequency (RF) and underwater acoustic (UWA) wireless communications. It consists of five papers, selected from a total of 13 publications. Each paper focuses on a specific technical challenge of the SC-FDE MIMO system. The first paper proposes an improved frequency-domain channel estimation method based on interpolation to track fast time-varying fading channels using a small amount of training symbols in a large data block. The second paper addresses the carrier frequency offset (CFO) problem using a new group-wise phase estimation and compensation algorithm to combat phase distortion caused by CFOs, rather than to explicitly estimate the CFOs. The third paper incorporates layered frequency-domain equalization with the phase correction algorithm to combat the fast phase rotation in coherent communications. In the fourth paper, the frequency-domain equalization combined with the turbo principle and soft successive interference cancelation (SSIC) is proposed to further improve the bit error rate (BER) performance of UWA communications. In the fifth paper, a bandwidth-efficient SC-FDE scheme incorporating decision-directed channel estimation is proposed for UWA MIMO communication systems. The proposed algorithms are tested by extensive computer simulations and real ocean experiment data. The results demonstrate significant performance improvements in four aspects: improved channel tracking, reduced BER, reduced computational complexity, and enhanced data efficiency --Abstract, page iv

Towards low-cost gigabit wireless systems at 60 GHz

The world-wide availability of the huge amount of license-free spectral space in the 60 GHz band provides wide room for gigabit-per-second (Gb/s) wireless applications. A commercial (read: low-cost) 60-GHz transceiver will, however, provide limited system performance due to the stringent link budget and the substantial RF imperfections. The work presented in this thesis is intended to support the design of low-cost 60-GHz transceivers for Gb/s transmission over short distances (a few meters). Typical applications are the transfer of high-definition streaming video and high-speed download. The presented work comprises research into the characteristics of typical 60-GHz channels, the evaluation of the transmission quality as well as the development of suitable baseband algorithms. This can be summarized as follows. In the first part, the characteristics of the wave propagation at 60 GHz are charted out by means of channel measurements and ray-tracing simulations for both narrow-beam and omni-directional configurations. Both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) are considered. This study reveals that antennas that produce a narrow beam can be used to boost the received power by tens of dBs when compared with omnidirectional configurations. Meanwhile, the time-domain dispersion of the channel is reduced to the order of nanoseconds, which facilitates Gb/s data transmission over 60-GHz channels considerably. Besides the execution of measurements and simulations, the influence of antenna radiation patterns is analyzed theoretically. It is indicated to what extent the signal-to-noise ratio, Rician-K factor and channel dispersion are improved by application of narrow-beam antennas and to what extent these parameters will be influenced by beam pointing errors. From both experimental and analytical work it can be concluded that the problem of the stringent link-budget can be solved effectively by application of beam-steering techniques. The second part treats wideband transmission methods and relevant baseband algorithms. The considered schemes include orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) and single carrier with frequency-domain equalization (SC-FDE), which are promising candidates for Gb/s wireless transmission. In particular, the optimal linear equalization in the frei quency domain and associated implementation issues such as synchronization and channel estimation are examined. Bit error rate (BER) expressions are derived to evaluate the transmission performance. Besides the linear equalization techniques, a low-complexity inter-symbol interference cancellation technique is proposed to achieve much better performance of code-spreading systems such as MC-CDMA and SC-FDE. Both theoretical analysis and simulations demonstrate that the proposed scheme offers great advantages as regards both complexity and performance. This makes it particularly suitable for 60-GHz applications in multipath environments. The third part treats the influence of quantization and RF imperfections on the considered transmission methods in the context of 60-GHz radios. First, expressions for the BER are derived and the influence of nonlinear distortions caused by the digital-to-analog converters, analog-to-digital converters and power amplifiers on the BER performance is examined. Next, the BER performance under the influence of phase noise and IQ imbalance is evaluated for the case that digital compensation techniques are applied in the receiver as well as for the case that such techniques are not applied. Finally, a baseline design of a low-cost Gb/s 60-GHz transceiver is presented. It is shown that, by application of beam-steering in combination with SC-FDE without advanced channel coding, a data rate in the order of 2 Gb/s can be achieved over a distance of 10 meters in a typical NLOS indoor scenario

A Novel SNR Estimation Technique for OFDM Systems

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems have received a lot of attention because of their robust performance in frequency dispersive channels. Further performance improvement is achieved by employing more sophisticated receiver techniques that often require the knowledge of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) - broadly defined as the ratio of the desired signal power to the unwanted noise power. For example, noise variance and, hence, signal to noise ratio (SNR) estimates of the received signal are very important for the channel quality control in communication systems. Similarly, in advanced communication systems, SNR estimation is used for adaptive algorithms for modulation, power control and coding. The objective of the work undertaken in this thesis is to design a front-end noise power estimator and, thence, SNR estimator. The proposed SNR estimator utilizes the OFDM preamble signal - the preamble used for synchronization. The estimation is achieved by auto correlating the preamble and it is deployed right at the front-end of the receiver. Noise power and, hence, signal power is estimated from the correlation results. The technique is also extended to obtaining noise power estimates of colored noise using wavelet-packet based filter bank analysis of the noise. In order to benchmark the proposed noise power and SNR estimation technique, a complete end-to-end fixed-broadband-wireless-access-system (IEEE 802.16d) simulation has been developed and the results are compared with other works reported in the literature. The simulations are conducted in both frequency non-dispersive and dispersive channels with real additive white Gaussian noise (A WGN) and also colored noise. It is observed that the proposed estimator gives better SNR estimates. The proposed estimator is also checked with WiMAX systems (IEEE802.\6d, 2004) using SUI multipath channels and with Wi-Fi systems (IEEE802.11 a) with indoor channel models. The estimator performs SNR estimation at front-end of the receiver unlike all other estimators which perform SNR estimation at back-end of the receiver. Furthermore, the proposed estimator has relatively low computational complexity; for it makes use of only one OFDM preamble signal to find the SNR estimates. The criteria of good SNR estimator are accuracy of estimates, low complexity and easy to implement. The results show that the proposed estimator fulfills these criteria successfully

A New Adaptive OMP-MAP Algorithm-based Iterative Sparse Channel Estimation for OFDM Underwater Communication

A sparse channel estimation approach based on doubly spread underwater acoustic (UWA) channels is widely used todetect coherent acoustic orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals. A new time-domain channelestimation (CE) technique for OFDM based UWA communication with Rician fading is used to exploit the channel sparsity.First, to improve the estimation accuracy in high noise conditions, we have exploited the channel sparsity to generate aclosed-form equation for the termination condition. Then, in low-level noise instances, the additional criterion to balanceestimation accuracy and computing costs has been established. By incorporating these two requirements within theorthogonal-matching-pursuit (OMP) structure, an adaptive-OMP (AOMP) algorithm has been proposed. The AOMP andmaximum a posteriori probability (MAP) techniques are combined to provide a computationally efficient, and a newAOMP-MAP scheme for estimating the sparse complex channel path gain has been proposed. Further, The minimumvariance unbiased estimator is used to improve the proposed CE technique. Exploiting the experimental channel data,computer simulations reveal that the proposed CE technique obtains the outstanding outcomes

Receiver design for nonlinearly distorted OFDM : signals applications in radio-over-fiber systems

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 201