On the Achievable Rate of a Class of Acoustic Channels and Practical Power Allocation Strategies for OFDM Systems

In this paper, we consider a class of single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) underwater acoustic communication channels, where each propagation path can be characterized by a complex-valued Gaussian block-fading model. The capacity of such channels is computed and analyzed using three power allocation strategies: waterfilling, uniform, and on-off uniform power allocation across the signal bandwidth. Our analysis considers the effects of imperfect channel estimation, delayed feedback, and pilot overhead, which are found to contribute to about 1 (b/s)/Hz loss from 4 (b/s)/Hz at 20-dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the experimental channel. We find that given the long feedback delays associated with acoustic channels, all-on uniform power allocation, which does not require feedback and is simple to implement, emerges as a justified practical solution that outperforms the other strategies. Furthermore, when considering acoustic-specific propagation effects, such as frequency-dependent attenuation and colored noise, considerable gain can be achieved by selecting the frequency band according to the attenuation pattern and the available transmit power, e.g., at least 6-dB gain for a 10-km link when compared to transmission over a preselected frequency band of 10-15 kHz.