Cooperative Underwater Surveillance Networks (COUSIN)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Electronics
Abstract
Underwater monitoring and surveillance (UMS) for a country surrounded by sea is an exceptionally important task. Important applications include port/harbour security, pollution monitoring, people trafficking, smuggling, maintaining integrity and detecting attacks on underwater infrastructure. The purpose of such systems is to detect, localise and classify underwater targets, and communicate this information to the authorities. The targets can be manned or unmanned underwater and surface vehicles, sources of pollution, mines, pipelines, cables, divers, swimmers, animals, etc.
Surveillance has been traditionally based on using surface ships and manned submarines, which are very costly to operate. Due to the physical properties of water, UMS systems, in the majority of cases, exploit acoustic waves. Sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) is a key technology for underwater imaging and target detection, and is an equivalent technology to radio detection and ranging (RADAR) which is widely used in above water environments.
Recent developments in underwater acoustic (UWA) communication networks, underwater robotics and vehicles make it timely to consider the development of cooperative UWA networks based on the use of low-cost static and moving sensor (including SONAR) nodes. Our hypothesis is that such networks can significantly enhance performance and reduce the cost of surveillance operations, and that UMS sonar, communication and navigation systems must be jointly designed and optimised to achieve the greatest performance. Given recent developments in radio systems for surveillance, it is clear that significant advances can be similarly achieved in UMS systems.
Our aim in this project is to investigate and practically demonstrate (at sea) novel joint designs of low-cost UWA networks for enhanced UMS. This will build upon our experience and recent collaborative success in the theoretical research and practical design of UWA sensor networks at the respective universities.
Surveillance has been traditionally based on using surface ships and manned submarines, which are very costly to operate. Due to the physical properties of water, UMS systems, in the majority of cases, exploit acoustic waves. Sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) is a key technology for underwater imaging and target detection, and is an equivalent technology to radio detection and ranging (RADAR) which is widely used in above water environments.
Recent developments in underwater acoustic (UWA) communication networks, underwater robotics and vehicles make it timely to consider the development of cooperative UWA networks based on the use of low-cost static and moving sensor (including SONAR) nodes. Our hypothesis is that such networks can significantly enhance performance and reduce the cost of surveillance operations, and that UMS sonar, communication and navigation systems must be jointly designed and optimised to achieve the greatest performance. Given recent developments in radio systems for surveillance, it is clear that significant advances can be similarly achieved in UMS systems.
Our aim in this project is to investigate and practically demonstrate (at sea) novel joint designs of low-cost UWA networks for enhanced UMS. This will build upon our experience and recent collaborative success in the theoretical research and practical design of UWA sensor networks at the respective universities.
Publications
Ahmed A
(2021)
FD-LTDA-MAC: Full-Duplex Unsynchronised Scheduling in Linear Underwater Acoustic Chain Networks
in Applied Sciences
Liao M
(2021)
DCD-Based Joint Sparse Channel Estimation for OFDM in Virtual Angular Domain
in IEEE Access
Morozs N
(2022)
Poster: Full Duplex Underwater Acoustic Networking
Yu Y
(2022)
Robust Sparsity-Aware RLS Algorithms With Jointly-Optimized Parameters Against Impulsive Noise
in IEEE Signal Processing Letters
Almanza-Medina J
(2022)
Sonar FoV Segmentation for Motion Estimation Using DL Networks
in IEEE Access
Gancza A
(2022)
Finite-Window RLS Algorithms
Huang G
(2022)
BQN: Busy-Quiet Net Enabled by Motion Band-Pass Module for Action Recognition.
in IEEE transactions on image processing : a publication of the IEEE Signal Processing Society
Niedzwiecki M
(2022)
Adaptive identification of sparse underwater acoustic channels with a mix of static and time-varying parameters
in Signal Processing
Morozs N
(2022)
Data Gathering in UWA Sensor Networks: Practical Considerations and Lessons from Sea Trials
in Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
Henson B
(2022)
Full-Duplex UAC Receiver With Two-Sensor Transducer
in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs
Gancza A
(2022)
Finite-Window RLS Algorithms
Almanza-Medina J
(2022)
Motion Estimation of Underwater Platforms Using Impulse Responses From the Seafloor
in IEEE Access
Shen L
(2022)
Finite-window RLS algorithms
in Signal Processing
Yu Y
(2022)
Sparsity-Aware Robust Normalized Subband Adaptive Filtering Algorithms With Alternating Optimization of Parameters
in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs
He P
(2022)
Coarse-to-Fine Localization of Underwater Acoustic Communication Receivers.
in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Huang X
(2023)
Squared Sine Adaptive Algorithm and Its Performance Analysis
in IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Processing
Morozs N.
(2023)
FULL-DUPLEX UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC NETWORKING: THE IMPACT OF RESIDUAL SELF-INTERFERENCE ON THE MAC LAYER PERFORMANCE
in Proceedings of Forum Acusticum
Hu Z
(2023)
Co-attention enabled content-based image retrieval.
in Neural networks : the official journal of the International Neural Network Society
Morozs N
(2023)
Target Detection Using Underwater Acoustic Networking
Liao M
(2023)
Estimation of Time-Varying Channels in Virtual Angular Domain for Massive MIMO Systems
in IEEE Access
Morozs N
(2024)
Statistical ON-OFF Link Modeling Based on Sea Trial Data
Leite W
(2024)
Direction Finding With Sparse Subarrays: Design, Algorithms, and Analysis
in IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
Ye J
(2024)
Adaptive Subband Forward Blind Source Separation Algorithms Based on Kalman Mechanism
in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
Yu Y
(2024)
Robust Proportionate Subband Adaptive Filter Algorithms With Optimal Variable Step-Size
in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs
Huang F
(2024)
Message Passing-Based Joint Channel Estimation and Signal Detection for OTFS With Superimposed Pilots
in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology
Leite W
(2024)
Direction of Arrival Estimation with Sparse Subarrays
Shen L
(2025)
Target Detection Using Underwater Acoustic Communication Links
in IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering
Zakharov Y
(2025)
Interference Cancellation for UWA Random Access Data Packet Transmission
in IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering
| Description | + The ability to detect targets between a network of transmitters/receivers has been achieved. + The use of communication signals to detect targets has been demonstrated in practical trials. |
| Exploitation Route | The published papers provide a lot of detail on the developed methods and their evaluation through modelling and experimentation. The publications show the scope of the research outcomes and potential future work directions can be ascertained. |
| Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Electronics |
| Description | The development of hardware prototypes and demonstration of target detection capability in real-world trials. |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | Knowledge exchange and impact enhancement of autonomous biomimetic robot-fish |
| Amount | £7,965 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Title | Target detection experimental capability |
| Description | We have extended our experimental capability to allow underwater targets to be detected through acoustic communication. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Useful data |
| Description | QinetiQ |
| Organisation | Qinetiq |
| Department | QinetiQ Haslar |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Have collaborated on underwater acoustic channel modelling. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Have collaborated on underwater acoustic channel modelling. |
| Impact | Project deliverables. Preparation of a conference paper. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Sonardyne |
| Organisation | Sonardyne International Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Collaborated on a DSTL research project. We worked on development of a protocol stack for underwater acoustic networking. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaborated on a DSTL research project. Sonardyne worked on the physical layer for underwater acoustic communications. |
| Impact | Membership of a NATO IST group on underwater channel modelling. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | International Scientific Conference on Telecommunications, Informatics, Energy and Management (TIEM) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Plenary talk |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.tiem2023.com/ |