Underwater Internet

Aqua-Fi could bring underwater internet to divers

Researchers in Saudi Arabia have developed Aqua-Fi, an aquatic sort of underwater internet that sends data through light beams.
“People from both academia and industry want to watch and explore underwater environments intimately, ” said first author, Basem Shihada, 

an assistant professor of computing at KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology).
Underwater communication is feasible with radio, acoustic and visual light signals. consistent with KAUST, radio can only carry data over short distances, while acoustic signals support long distances, but with a limited rate . light travels far and carries many data, but the narrow light beams require a transparent line of sight between the transmitters and receivers.

     Aqua-Fi is an underwater wireless system that supports internet services, like sending multimedia messages using either LEDs or lasers. LEDs provide a low-energy option for short-distance communication, while lasers can carry data further, but need more power.
The Aqua-Fi prototype used green LEDs or a 520nm laser to send data from an easy computer to a light-weight detector connected to a different computer. the primary computer converts photos and videos into a series of 1s and 0s, which are translated into light beams turning on and off at high speed. the sunshine detector senses this variation and turns it back to 1s and 0s, which the receiving computer converts back to the first footage.
The researchers tested the system by simultaneously uploading and downloading multimedia between two computers set a couple of meters apart in static water. They recorded a maximum data transfer speed of two .11MB per second and a mean delay of 1.00 millisecond for a trip .

    “This is that the first time anyone has used the web underwater completely wirelessly,” Shihada said during a statement.
In the world , Aqua-Fi would use radio waves to send data from a diver’s smartphone to a gateway device attached to their gear. Then, very similar to a booster that extends the WiFi range of a household internet router, this gateway sends the info via a light-weight beam to a computer at the surface that's connected to the web via satellite.

    The researchers have several obstacles to beat before Aqua-Fi will become available. “We hope to enhance the link quality and therefore the transmission range with faster electronic components,” said Shihada. the sunshine beam must also remain perfectly aligned with the receiver in moving waters, and therefore the team is considering a spherical receiver which will capture light from all angles.
“We have created a comparatively cheap and versatile thanks to connect underwater environments to the worldwide internet,” Shihada said. “We hope that one day; Aqua-Fi are going to be as widely used underwater as WiFi is above water.”

 

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