It’s a big leap in innovation. MIT researchers have taken a big step in solving one of the biggest challenges faced in communication. Researchers have designed a direct data transmission between underwater and airborne devices.
Sharing data within two respective mediums was next to impossible as both use different wireless signals that only work in their particular mediums. Radio signals expire in water very rapidly whereas Sonar signals sent by underwater devices mostly replicate by the surface without even breaking through.
Hence such problems cause inefficiency and other issues such as in solar exploration and submarine-plane communication. Recently this week, at the SIGCOMM conference the researchers of MIT Media Lab have brought forth their design that can solve such issues royally.
The new systems named translational acoustic-RF communication (TARF) works by sending sonar signal to the surface; this signal creates tiny vibrations at different frequencies corresponding to the 0s and 1s of two-fold data. The exceptionally high-frequency radar (30GHz to 300GHz) above the water will pick up on minuscule changes in signal angles and relate it to the data bits. This is then processed into meaningful data.
New signal processing algorithms use the frequency of waves to tell the distinction between large waves and the tiny ones scientists are looking for. The initial approach only works in waves nearly 6.3 inches high, but MIT hoped to refine it for use in rough ocean waters.
The new system does not transmit photos or highly detailed reports but instead transmits data at a few hundred bits per second. It is hoped by the researcher that this new system will enable decode communication to break through the water-air barrier.
