Underwater communication technology (dispersing underwater observation and control network) is expected to be commercialized to send and receive information such as underwater temperature, salinity and on-site photographs in the sea, and to inform the possible earthquake and other disaster situations on land.

SK Telecom has succeeded in testing its 600m distance communication technology based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) base station at 25m sea depth 10km away from Hoseo University and Incheon South Port on April 30.

SK Telecom plans to complete a communication system development underwater base station and underwater sensors by next year and finalize the experimental network by 2021.

Underwater communication technology is a national research project of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, which is planned to run from 2015 to 2021. Hoseo University hosts 13 research institutes including SK Telecom. SK Telecom is the only mobile carrier among research institutes.

The test was to float two vessels on the sea and send the information such as water temperature, salinity, acidity, dissolved oxygen from underwater. The applied technology is `Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)` which is an LTE frequency modulation technique that is able to put data on underwater sound waves (3 kHz ~ 70 kHz). The original form of sound wave is recovered when data is transmitted in the form of sound waves in the transmission line.

The company plans to install the underwater base station, which will operate within a radius of 5 km, for the first time in the world, the sound waves in the underwater are influenced by algae as it cannot provide a stable communication network. The company is expected to divide the marine into a block-shaped block and analyze the local bird and underwater terrain. Then install a customized underwater base station that adjusts the angle of the antenna. SK Telecom explained that the underwater base stations can be installed in the east coast and the southern coast irrespective of the water depth. However, the installation may be difficult in deep areas.

The company also revealed its plans to install various sensors based on Internet of Things (IoT) on the underwater base station. The company explained that installed sensors can be used in a variety of fields such as defense, submarine detection, and monitoring of disasters such as water temperature, salinity, algae, radioactivity, red tide, and other disasters such as tsunami and earthquake.

The company added that the underwater information collected by each sensor is connected to the ground through satellite, LTE, and other communication networks through the maritime communication base via the underwater base stations. It is a form that is able to use sound waves in the water and radio waves in the air.

SK Telecom representative said, "Communication technologies based on underwater base stations can be widely used in the defense field, and fishery information collected through sensors can be provided to related organizations and fishermen by opening related sites.” He also said, "We will be able to observe the information early and work more safely in underwater work."

By Na Won Jae nwj@


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