Filterbank Multicarrier Communications for Underwater Acoustic Channels

This work is motivated by the needs in the doubly dispersive underwater acoustic (UWA) communication channels. We propose and develop the use of filterbank multicarrier (FBMC) technique for communications in the channels of interest. A novel cost function for optimization of the filterbank prototype filter, to achieve a robust performance in doubly dispersive channels, is proposed. A design algorithm that optimizes the proposed cost function is then developed. The developed FBMC technique is compared with the celebrated orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). Our study shows that in doubly dispersive channels, in terms of signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), FBMC outperforms OFDM by several decibels. The theoretical results are validated and confirmed to be applicable to UWA communications, by examining real data from an at-sea experiment (ACOMM10), off the coast of New Jersey in July 2010.