A Prefix Based Approach for Joint Doppler and Channel Estimation in Underwater Communication

Developing a reliable and robust underwater acoustic communication system is a difficult task, due to the complicated nature of the underwater channel, non-stationary noise, and a number of other factors. Indeed, channel estimation or equalization presents numerous challenges in this non-stationary, highly Doppler, multipath environment; as a result, traditional equalizers and PLL-based methods have limited performance. Generally, communication over such time-varying channels is accomplished via packets that contain a prefix/preamble signal for training, a payload containing the actual data, and a silent period for proper alignment. The prefix signal must be designed properly because it is used to estimate the channel and also to determine the start of packet. This paper proposes a novel prefix signal based on the hyperbolic chirp signal, where its Doppler invariance properties enable the extraction of the entire packet even when Doppler and severe multipath are present. Additionally, this proposed prefix enables an efficient and accurate method for fully characterising an underwater channel. The proposed prefix signal is used to estimate the multipath delay and amplitude, and different Doppler scales. Extensive simulations using various channel models are used to determine the proposed method robustness and efficacy under a wide range of conditions. Additionally, the proposed algorithm has been validated on a real-world channel.