A Robust Signal Processing Approach of Underwater Network Size Estimation Taking Multipath Propagation Effects into Account

摘要

Underwater network size estimation is inefficient by applying conventional protocol based techniques used for terrestrial networks due to non-negligible capture effect, long propagation delay, high absorption and dispersion of the medium. For this reason, a statistical signal processing approach based on cross-correlation has been proposed in our previous works, which is equally applicable to any environment networks. Initially, this estimation approach was formulated without considering multipath propagation effects. But, one of the common difficulties of underwater or terrestrial wireless communication is multipath propagation. Multipath spread is more severe in underwater acoustic channel (UAC) than terrestrial radio channel. This paper aims to address the multipath propagation issue. To mitigate the effects of multipath propagation, a robust estimation approach using corss-correlation of Gaussian signals received at two sensors has been investigated in this paper.