Hydrodynamic Whispering: Enabling Near-Field Silent Communication via Artificial Lateral Line Arrays

TL;DR

This paper presents Hydrodynamic Whispering, a novel silent underwater communication method using artificial lateral line arrays, enabling secure, near-field data exchange with low interception risk and robust performance in turbulent conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a new hydrodynamic communication paradigm based on potential flow theory, with a bio-inspired sensor array and advanced processing for secure, short-range underwater networking.

Findings

Achieves approximately 13.8 dB array gain.

Maintains near-zero BER within effective range.

Demonstrates feasibility of hydrodynamic pressure-based communication.

Abstract

To address the imperative for covert underwater swarm coordination, this paper introduces "Hydrodynamic Whispering," a near-field silent communication paradigm utilizing Artificial Lateral Line (ALL) arrays. Grounded in potential flow theory, we model the transmitter as an oscillating dipole source. The resulting pressure field exhibits steep nearfield attenuation (scaling with 1/r^2, naturally delimiting a secure "communication bubble" with intrinsic Low Probability of Interception (LPI) properties. We propose a transceiver architecture featuring a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation scheme adapted for mechanical actuator inertia, coupled with a bio-inspired 24-sensor conformal array. To mitigate low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in turbulent environments,a Spatio-Temporal Joint Processing framework incorporating Spatial Matched-Field Beamforming is developed. Simulation results demonstrate that the system achieves an array gain of approximately 13.8 dB and maintains a near-zero Bit Error Rate (BER) within the effective range. This study validates the feasibility of utilizing localized hydrodynamic pressure fluctuations for reliable and secure short-range underwater networking.