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A Brief Review of Underwater Electric Current
Communication
Qixin Zhu1,2, Wei Xiong2, Hongli Liu1, Yonghong Zhu3, Guangming Xie4
1. School of Mechanical Engineering
Suzhou University of Science and Technology
Suzhou, China
Email:bob21cn@163.com
3. School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering
Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute
Jingdezhen, China
Email: zyh_patrick@163.com
Abstract—Due to the harsh characteristic of underwater
environment, it is difficult for the underwater vehicles to
communicate with others. Exploring the various underwater
communication schemes is essential for the future practical
applications. In this paper, some commonly underwater
communication schemes are introduced which emphasize on
their technical index, operation environment, advantages and the
improvement needed firstly. Then some efforts have been taken
on the performance parameters which mainly focus on the
underwater wireless communication methods. Finally, a large
segment of this paper is devoted to introduce the research status
and the expectation of the underwater electric current
communication. In a word, the electric current communication
has broad application prospect in underwater communication
domain.
Keywords—underwater; underwater wireless communication;
underwater electric current communication
I. INTRODUCTION
The area of the earth is about 360 million square kilometers,
of which 70.8% of the earth surface is the ocean. The ocean has
a huge impact on human civilization and the progress of the
society. And the historical process of human social
development has been closely related to the ocean. The ocean,
which is rich in biological resources and mineral resources, has
great economic benefits. Therefore, it is becoming more and
more important to explore and develop the ocean for scientific,
commercial, and military reasons [1].
Of course, exploring and developing the marine needs the
corresponding underwater vehicles. Because of the harsh
characteristic of underwater environments, it is difficult for the
underwater vehicles to communicate with others. Therefore, it
is essential to explore the underwater communications
possibilities in the harsh underwater environment for the future
practical applications [2].
However, the realistic communication system must be
wireless in the underwater domain such as acoustic wave
communication, optical communication, electromagnetic wave
This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China
(51375323, 61563022), Major Program of Natural Science Foundation of
Jiangxi Province, China (20152ACB20009), Scientific Research Foundation
of Suzhou University of Science and Technology (XKZ201409) and Qing Lan
Project of Jiangsu Province, China.

ª
*&&&
2. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
East China Jiaotong University
Nanchang, China
Email: 215688545@qq.com
4. College of Engineering
Peking University
Beijing, China
Email: xiegming@mech.pku.edu.cn
communication and electric current communication. Cables,
even for shallow water operations are heavy, constraining
divers’ movements and creating additional hazards [3]. But
there is sever potential safety hazard with the increasing
numbers of vehicles. The acoustic wave communication is
widely used in the underwater domain [4, 5]. The acoustic
wave communication can achieve the longest range (up to
several kilometers) at reasonable bandwidths up to 5-10
Kbit/sec [6]. But the propagation velocity of acoustic wave
communication is affected by the salinity, temperature and
pressure in the water. Several factors, like the sea bottom
topology, Doppler shifts in received signals, transducers
efficiency, different noise, can also affect the performance of
the acoustic wave communication. The optical communication
can provide high data rates which achieve up to 10 Mbit/sec
and have a long range of up to 20 meters in clear water [7].
Because of some properties of optical waves, the optical
communication has strong anti-jamming capacity and quite
high security performance. However, the high multi-scattering
and absorption of the optical wave in the ocean constrain the
operation environment of the underwater optical
communication [8]. The electromagnetic wave is not sensitive
with the reflection and refraction effects, suspended particles
and marine plankton [9]. Because of the electromagnetic
wave's attenuation in the water, it is impossible to work with its
high carrier frequency. The electric current communication
method is inspired from the physical characteristic of the
weakly electric fish [10]. The underwater electric current
communication possesses well real-time ability and high data
rates because its propagation speed can reach approximately
the velocity of light in water. However, much more efforts
should be taken for the underwater electric current
communication to enlarge the effective communication range
and to improve the ability of detecting weak electric signals.
In this paper, several underwater communication methods
are briefly introduced on their technical parameters, working
environment, advantages and disadvantages firstly. The
following technical parameters of several underwater wireless
communication methods, like the carrier frequency, the ability
of carrying information, real-time ability, communication delay
and the affecting factors of the outer environment, are revealed
in some tables. Finally, much more attentions are taken on a

detailed introduction of the research status and the expectation
of the underwater electric current communication.
II. SEVERAL UNDERWATER COMMUNICATION MODES
Generally speaking, the definition of communication refers
to people or between man and nature exchange information
through the certain behavior or medium. In the modern
communication system, the wireless communication systems
achieve the communication target through the electromagnetic
wave propagation in air. And to realize the communication in
the medium of conductor transmission is called wired
communication system. Of course, like the communication
mode on land, the communication mode can also be divided
into cable communication and wireless communication in the
underwater domain. Underwater cable communication is
commonly used in high bandwidth communication system.
And the underwater wireless communication can be divided
into acoustic wave communication, optical communication,
electromagnetic wave communication and electric current
communication.
A. Underwater Cable Communication
Communication cables can carry high bandwidth
information for the communication system and are currently
the most widely used solution in the underwater environment
communication. Cables consist of transmit electrical signals in
conductors cables and optical signal in optical fibers. The cable
supplies control commands and transfers back the data from
the sensors of the underwater vehicle, and also supplies power
to the vehicle. And the cables can also be regarded as a safety
rope to retrieve the vehicle in case of system faults. The wired
underwater vehicle usually needs several kilometers of cable to
transmit power and messages in the deep ocean missions. And
the long cable in the ocean becomes the most vulnerable part of
the wired underwater vehicle.
It is obvious that the underwater cable communication has
several drawbacks. With the increasing numbers of the
vehicles, it is difficult to manage the different cables, and there
is severe potential safety hazard for the vehicles. It is
conceivable that the wired communication system can only be
adapted to a group of vehicle which contains two or three
vehicles. In this case, the cables of the group of vehicle can be
well managed to avoid entanglement. The more vehicles the
group owns, the harder the control system manages. Therefore,
the cable constrains the vehicles' number, the range of
movements and creating additional hazards.
B. Underwater Acoustic Wave Communication
Due to the long propagation distance of the acoustic wave, it
is used to achieve the long distance communication in the
water. As a consequence, acoustic wave communication is the
most widely used among several underwater communication
modes. The operation range of the acoustic wave
communication method can achieve several kilometers at the
reasonable bandwidths from 5 to 10 Kbit/sec [4]. And it is
possible for acoustic wave communication to accomplish the
highest bandwidth of several hundred thousand bits per second

on a reasonable range [5, 6]. Efforts have been taken to develop
the acoustic modems in article [11-13].
Even though the underwater acoustic wave communication
is the most widely used in several underwater wireless
communication schemes, some negative effects can impact its
performance. The attenuation losses of the acoustic wave
communication increase with the increasing of its frequency.
And the attenuation loss is only 0.3 db/m for the frequency of
30 KHz carrier [14]. In this frequency, the acoustic wave
communication can achieve long distance communication with
relatively high output power. Nevertheless, the attenuation loss
of underwater acoustic channel is not the linear relationship
with its frequency. But the propagation velocity of the acoustic
wave is determined by the salinity, temperature and pressure in
the water. As we all know, the acoustic wave will cause
reflections by the obstacles. Due to the varying speed of
acoustic wave and its reflections, the acoustic wave
communication will form multi-path propagation. However,
some other factors, like doppler shifts in received signals,
transducers efficiency, different noise, can also impact the
performance of the acoustic wave communication. Therefore,
because of some uncertain factors, it is impossible to adopt
acoustic wave communication in underwater vehicle swarms.
C. Underwater Optical Communication
With the development of the sensor technology, the volume
of the transmitting data will become larger and larger. It is
difficult for acoustic communication to transmit large volume
of data at high data rates. Therefore, the optical
communication with its large information carrying capacity at
high frequency is paid more attention by the researchers in the
underwater communication domain. Article [7] indicates that
the communication rate of optical wave with high frequency
can achieve up to 10 Mbit/sec in clear water. Also optical
communication, which is not easily affected by temperature
and salinity in seawater, has strong anti-jamming capacity and
great underwater electronic countermeasures features [15]. As
we all know, light spread along a straight line in air or pure
water. The optical communication has quite high security
performance because it will be interrupted if the optical wave
has been intercepted.
However, the optical communication is easily affected by
the seawater quality of the operating environment. It is well-
known that there are great mount of suspended particles and
marine plankton in the realistic ocean. The light would be
scattered and absorbed by the underwater environment with
suspended particles and marine plankton. Because of its high
multi-scattering and absorption in the ocean, it is impossible
for the optical communication to achieve up to 1-Gbit/sec
transmissions in the laboratory experiment [8]. Besides, the
high multi-scattering and absorption of the optical wave in the
ocean constrain the distance between the transmitter and the
receiver. Though the optical communication is not easily
affected by the temperature and salinity in seawater, the
various affecting factors in the water limits the underwater
application domain.
D. Underwater Electromagnetic Wave Communication
Electromagnetic (EM) wave communication is a commonly
communication method for digital communication in air. The
well-known bluetooth and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), which
operate around 2.4 GHz, are commonly used in our daily life.
However, some people do not know that the electromagnetic
wave communication also can be used for underwater
communication system. It is not until articles [16, 17] have
published that the underwater electromagnetic wave
communication systems have been proposed. Also the
underwater electromagnetic wave communication has its own
advantages. The electromagnetic wave is not sensitive with the
reflection and refraction effects in shallow water [9]. And the
suspended particles and marine plankton have tiny impact on
electromagnetic waves compared with the underwater optical
communication.
Article [18] has shown that electromagnetic wave works
poorly in seawater due to the losses caused by the high
conductivity of seawater. However, it is not practical for the
electromagnetic wave to work in high frequency because the
attenuation of electromagnetic wave becomes approximately
increased linearly with its carrier frequency whether in fresh
water or seawater [4]. Also the electromagnetic wave with low
frequency limits the available data bandwidth. Meanwhile, the
transmitter power should be increased to extend the
communication range. Therefore, it is inappropriate that the
electromagnetic wave communication has been used in
underwater wireless communication domain when the cheap
and long distance underwater communication is needed.
E. Underwater Electric Current Communication
Besides the acoustic wave communication, optical
communication and electromagnetic wave communication,
there is also another underwater wireless communication. In
nature, weakly electric fish can generate an electric field to
communicate with others and keep away from barriers by
transmitting electric signals [10]. The physical characteristic of
weakly electric fish inspires the researchers to use electric field
and return current density to find a new underwater
communication method named electric current communication
[19]. The underwater electric current communication is also
consisted of a transmitter and a receiver. Both the transmitter
and receiver contain a pair of electrodes. In order to extend the
communication range of this communication system, the power
amplifier is adopted to amplify the signals on the transmitting
electrodes. And the amplified signals would construct the
electric field and form the return current around the transmitter
with the changing of the transmitting data [21]. A pair of
sensitive electric electrodes can capture electric potential
difference from the electric field built by the transmitting
electrodes. The electric current communication has its own
advantages of high data rates with the carrier frequency
achieved up to the magnitude of several MHz [24]. And the
propagation speed of the electric field can achieve
approximately the velocity of light without any communication
delay in the water. Above all the electric current
communication, which is not easily affected by the suspended

particles and marine plankton, can adjust various environments
in the water.
III. SOME PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF SEVERAL
UNDERWATER COMMUNICATION
Though the underwater cable communication is widely used
in underwater communication domain, it is difficult to manage
the cables in underwater multi-robot communication system.
Any realistic underwater communications, like acoustic wave
communication, optical communication, electromagnetic wave
communication and electric current communication, must be
wireless to avoid some potential safety hazards. So the
distinctions mainly focus on four underwater wireless
communication methods. Here the distinctions of several
wireless underwater communication methods are illustrated by
five mainly aspects, like the carrier frequency, the ability of
carrying information, communication range, real-time ability
and the affecting factors of the outer environment.
First of all, more attentions should be taken on the acoustic
wave communication which is the most widely used method in
underwater communication domain. The attenuation loss of
the acoustic wave is 2 or 3 db/km for the 20 KHz carrier
frequency. Therefore, the carrier frequency can achieve up to
dozens of KHz and the communication bandwidth can achieve
5 to 10 Kbit/sec when the communication range needed should
be several kilometers. The propagation velocity of the acoustic
wave can achieve 1500 m/sec within the scope of specific
temperature, salinity, pressure and other factors in water. And
real-time ability of the acoustic communication system is
serious influenced by the temperature, salinity, pressure in
water. Also some other factors, like doppler shifts, transducers
efficiency, different noise, can also cause reflections and
multi-propagations which lead severity impact on the acoustic
wave communication system. The performance parameters of
underwater acoustic wave communication are summarized in
table 1.
TABLE1. THE PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF UNDERWATER
ACOUSTIC WAVE COMMUNICATION
Carrier Frequency Dozens of KHz
Carrying Ability Several Kbit/sec
Communication Range Several Kilometers
Real-Time Ability Serious
Mainly Impacting Factors
Reflections and Multi-
propagation
The optical communication is not easily affected by the
temperature and salinity in seawater compared with acoustic
wave communication. Also the carrying information ability of
optical communication can achieve up to 10 Mbit/sec in clean
water when the carrier frequency reaches several hundred
MHz [7]. Because of the highly propagation velocity of the
optical wave, it leads almost not any delay in the optical
communication system. However, the optical wave is easily
affected by the suspended particles and marine plankton which
would lead the multi-scattering and absorption in the ocean.
Even though the high carrier frequency, huge magnitude of Communication Range Dozens of Meters
carrying information and great real-time ability of the optical
Real-Time Ability Great
communication, the suspended particles et al. limit its
effective operation range. The performance parameters of Mainly Impacting Factors Transmitting Power
underwater optical wave communication are summarized in
table 2.
IV. THE RESEARCH STATUS AND THE EXPECTATION OF
TABLE 2. THE PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF UNDERWATER UNDERWATER ELECTRIC CURRENT COMMUNICATION
OPTICAL COMMUNICATION
The researchers have found inspiration of underwater
Carrier Frequency Several Hundreds MHz electric current communication method from the physical
characteristic of weakly electric fish in article [10]. The
Carrying Ability Dozens of Mbit/sec research of recorded underwater electric current
Communication Range Several Meters communication began in 1970s [19-24].
Real-Time Ability Great Article [19] was the recorded earliest electric field
Mainly Impacting Factors Multi-scattering and Absorption application in underwater navigation. A brief introduction
about the underwater communication using return electric
current had been given by Schultz in 1971 [21]. In article [21],
The electromagnetic wave possesses the same carrying Schultz also introduced the theoretical account of the
information ability and real-time ability compared with optical underwater communication system which concerned with the
communication. Also the electromagnetic wave is not calculation of the current-density distribution.
sensitive with the reflection and refraction effects which are
caused by the suspended particles, marine plankton in the Article [24] is the most representative working on
seawater. Because of the approximately increased linearly underwater electric current communication domain. H.
relationship between the attenuation losses and the carrier Momma and T. Tsuchiya analyzed the operation principle and
obtained the approximate theoretical model of electric current
frequency, it is impossible for the electromagnetic wave to
communication. Also article [24] obtained several influence
work in high carrier frequency in seawater. So the factors which affect the communication range. We can
communication range of electromagnetic wave can merely acknowledge that the strength of the electric current in
achieve several meters. The performance parameters of transmitting electrodes, the distance of the transmitting electric
underwater electromagnetic wave communication are electrodes on transmitter, the distance of the receiving electric
summarized in table 3. electrodes on receiver and the electric constant can contribute
to the effective range of the underwater electric current
TABLE 3. THE PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF UNDERWATER communication. Meanwhile, the detection capability of the
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE COMMUNICATION receiver can also have influence over the communication
Carrier Frequency Several MHz quality of this underwater electric current communication
system.
Carrying Ability Several Kbit/sec
There are no more articles publicly published about the
Communication Range Several Meters
underwater electric current communication in the next time of
Real-Time Ability Great twentieth century. And it was not until recent years that some
Mainly Impacting Factors Attenuation Losses articles about the electric current communication were taken
into consideration. J. Joe and S. H. Toh have designed a digital
underwater communication system by using electric current in
However, the carrier frequency of electric current 2007 [25]. It has been confirmed that the underwater
communication can achieve the magnitude of several MHz communication system has the capacity to deliver much higher
without the displacement current [26]. The propagation speed bit rate digital information in short distance. The relative
of the electric current field can achieve nearly the speed of the position of a pair of electric electrodes has been taken into
light which contributes great real-time ability of the account to achieve effective range enhancement.
underwater electric current communication system. And the
C. W. Kim et al. obtained the underwater electric conduction
electric current communication is almost not affected by the
channel characteristics from a channel measurement project in
suspended particles and marine plankton and can easily adapt open sea waters in 2010 [26]. The appropriate digital
various outer environments. The performance parameters of modulator-demodulator and coding program of the underwater
underwater electric current communication are summarized in electric current communication system would be designed with
table4. the assistance of the channel characteristics. The path loss of
distance-frequency dependent has been acquired for the
TABLE 4. THE PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS OF UNDERWATER frequencies up to 1.2 MHz and distances up to 5 meters. The
ELECTRIC CURRENT COMMUNICATION
channel characteristics in seawater have important implications
Carrier Frequency Several Hundreds MHz for the future designing of underwater electric current.
Carrying Ability Several Kbit/sec


 Though the underwater electric current communication
system has many advantages, some negative reasons can also
impact its operation quality. The displacement current can be
ignored without beyond several MHz, which is the magnitude
of the carrier frequency in seawater [26]. In order to enlarge the
effective range of the underwater electric current
communication, the conduction current should be as large as
possible in the communication system permission scope.
However, the intensity of the electric current field is inversely
proportional to the distance. Due to the strength of the electric
current field is rather weak for the far distance; it is unrealistic
for the receiver to detect the electric current signals with the
influence of some electromagnetic interference. As a
consequence, the working environment of the underwater
electric current communication should be emphasized on high
data rate and short distance communication.
In our opinion, much more efforts should be taken to
increase the transmitting current as large as possible under the
safe working environment firstly. Secondly, much more
attentions should be taken on the detecting ability of the weak
electric signals. The useful signals are extracted from the
received signals with strong noise in detecting part. And some
measures can be taken to enlarge the strength of useful signals
and suppress the noise signals. Thirdly, the underwater
working unit should have great ability to resist the
electromagnetic interference because of the detection of weak
electric signals on the receiver. Lastly, some effective
designing schemes should be carried out to solve the future
problems like the coding schemes and communication
protocols in underwater multi-robot system [27].
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, some brief introductions of the underwater
communication methods have been given on their technical
index and affecting factors. Then some specific parameters
have been discussed from five aspects through four clear tables.
Finally, much effort has been taken on the research status and
expectation of the underwater electric current communication.
Due to the low electric noise of the electric current
communication in the deep ocean, it can improve its effective
operation performance through increasing transmitting current
and achieving sensitive detection ability. In conclusion, the
electric current communication method has broad application
prospect in the short distance underwater communication
domain.
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