Abstract

The influence of seawater depth in hydroacoustic transmission of binary numbers is experimentally investigated. The binary digits are encoded as sequences of short and long rectangular pulses of a fixed duration. The experiments are carried out in coastal waters of Bulgarian South Black Sea shelf. The transmission of numbers is experimentally compared for three different water depths: 10m, 30m and 60m, at a transmitter-receiver distance of 1500m. Increasing the water depth improved the performance leading to a larger number of correct transmissions. Hydroacoustic transmission in very shallow water is more difficult due to strong interference from reflected signals. In 60m deep water the observed transfer of binary numbers is stable and correct. Certainty of correct transmission increases with increasing water depth in shallow seawater.