Reliability Enhancement of Underwater Acoustic Communication in Dynamic Underwater Channels via Unequal-Rate Frequency–Phase Signaling

Underwater acoustic (UWA) channels are inherently complex, with pronounced variability arising from multipath propagation, time variability, Doppler effects, and nonstationary ocean conditions. Such variability often leads to unstable communication reliability when conventional single-carrier signaling and fixed reception strategies are employed. In practical UWA environments, performance degradation may occur when channel characteristics deviate from the assumed regime, thereby limiting system robustness. To address this reliability challenge, this study develops an unequal-rate frequency–phase keying (URFPK) signaling strategy that combines a low-rate frequency component with a high-rate phase component. A corresponding receiver structure is designed, employing parallel coherent and noncoherent processing to enhance robustness under dynamic channel conditions. In addition, a reduced-complexity noncoherent procedure is introduced to improve computational efficiency. Simulation results demonstrate substantially improved robustness under severe UWA distortions. Full-scale sea trials further validate the engineering effectiveness of the proposed approach, achieving communication success rate improvements of 18.62% and 9.39% over baseline schemes within short intervals and maintaining an overall success rate exceeding 91% over extended transmissions. These results indicate that the URFPK signaling strategy provides a practical and robust mechanism for improving UWA link reliability in dynamic UWA channels.