Application of Diversity Combining with RLS Adaptive Filtering in Data Transmission in a Hydroacoustic Channel

When transmitting data in a hydroacoustic channel under difficult propagation conditions, one of the problems is intersymbol interference (ISI) caused mainly by the effect of multipath propagation. This phenomenon leads to a decrease in transmission parameters, and sometimes completely prevents it. Therefore, we have made an attempt to use diversity combining with Recursive Least Squares (RLS) adaptive filtering to improve the quality of data transmission in a hydroacoustic channel with strong reflections. The method was tested in simulation and during measurements in a real environment. The influence of the method on data transmission in the hydroacoustic channel was examined in detail. The obtained results allow us to draw conclusions regarding the purposefulness of use of diversity combining and RLS adaptive filtering in order to improve the quality of data transmission by reducing the effect of ISI.