An open source acoustic modem for communication between autonomous underwater vehicles

Miniature underwater robots (MUR) are becoming popular for underwater robotics research. Existing acoustic modems are typically designed for larger vehicles, which requires relatively high power and high cost. We present the Bluebuzz, a open source acoustic modem with reduced size and low power consumption aiming for the applications of MURs. We will report the detailed technical solutions and the experimental results collected and presents future improvements. The modems have also been tested to support higher level networking functions among multiple MUR.