Underwater Acoustic Communication Channel Capacity: A Simulation Study

Acoustic communication channel capacity determines the maximum data rate that can be supported (theoretically) by an acoustic channel for a given source power and source/receiver configuration. In this paper, broadband acoustic propagation modeling is applied to estimate the channel capacity of a shallow water waveguide for a single source‐receiver pair, both with and without source bandwidth constraints. Initial channel capacity estimates are obtained for a range‐independent environment defined by the mean (time‐averaged) sound speed profile measured at a site in the 1995 SWARM experiment. Without bandwidth constraints, estimated channel capacities approach 10 megabits per second at 1 km range, but after 2 km range they decay at a rate consistent with that of estimates by Peloquin and Leinhos, which were based on a sonar equation analysis for a generic underwater channel. Channel capacities subject to source bandwidth constraints are approximately 30 90% lower than the upper bounds predicted by the sonar...