We’re used to having internet access pretty much everywhere we go, and with satellite internet constellations on the increase, there will soon be more coverage than ever before – if you’re on the Earth’s surface at least.
It’s a bit trickier providing internet connections underwater, but researchers in Saudi Arabia have unveiled a system dubbed Aqua-Fi that uses light beams to send data.
The primary aim isn’t to let scuba divers check their Facebook status or post a marine encounter straight to Instagram, though those things could be enabled in the fullness of time.
For now, the system could help underwater researchers, surveyors and others to stay connected while underwater.
As the study’s lead author Basem Shihada, an Associate Professor of Computer Science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), explained: ‘People from both academia and industry want to monitor and explore underwater environments in detail.’
The system uses either LEDs or lasers to send data from a basic computer carried by the diver.
This is registered at a light-detecting device connected to an internet-enabled computer on the surface.
As this computer will be located on a ship or other vessel, the internet connection will most likely be via satellite.
Divers could send live video feeds or communicate with each other
Photos or video can be digitised and sent to the surface computer where it is converted back to the original images or footage.
Divers would also be able to communicate with each other via relayed messages without having to be in the line of sight to use hand signals.
The researchers initially tested the system by uploading and downloading data in both directions between two computers set in water just a few metres apart.
The link quality and transmission range will obviously have to be improved before the system can be used in real-world applications, but the initial results were promising.
The computers were able to link up with data transfer speeds of up to 2.11MB per second and a delay of just one millisecond.
‘This is the first time anyone has used the internet underwater completely wirelessly,’ Shihada said in a statement.
He added: ‘We have created a relatively cheap and flexible way to connect underwater environments to the global internet.
‘We hope that one day, Aqua-Fi will be as widely used underwater as WiFi is above water.’
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