Experimental Study on Acoustic Compatibility in Underwater Acoustic Communication: Lake-Based Trials

Addressing the issue that theoretical calculation and simulation analysis methods are insufficient to meet the needs of acoustic compatibility assessment for onboard underwater acoustic communication equipment, this paper proposes, for the first time, a lake trial methodology based on actual ship layout, real equipment, and operational conditions. First, the underwater acoustic communication equipment, interference sources, and background noise simulators are deployed in the lake according to their actual installation positions on the ship to establish the experimental environment. Then, the equipment under test operates under predefined conditions to simulate interference scenarios, and the received waveforms are monitored at the underwater acoustic communication equipment to assess the interference situation and analyze its causes. Finally, countermeasures are proposed, and their effectiveness is evaluated using a comparative approach. The results demonstrate that lake trials can effectively obtain interference levels of underwater acoustic devices, accurately identify the causes of interference, and propose effective countermeasures based on this analysis. The implementation of these countermeasures can prevent interference from other underwater acoustic devices, validating the effectiveness of both the experimental method and the countermeasures, thereby ensuring the compatibility of underwater acoustic communication equipment with related devices in actual ship applications.