A High Data Rate Underwater Acoustic Telemetry System

A high data rate acoustic telemetry system capable of transmitting, on command, large quantities of stored data from ocean floor instrumentation to a surface receiving station in a relatively short period of time has been developed and successfully demonstrated. The system is capable of transmitting data at 2400 bits per second through 200 meters of water. Since initiation of development in 1977, the acoustic telemetry system has been successfully tested in a number of sea locations. The system is currently being used to recover data from a seafloor seismic package installed in the Santa Barbara Channel. This paper describes the system in detail, gives testing results, and explains its use in gathering seismic data. Possible future changes to allow the system to operate in water depths of over a kilometer are also presented.