Lectures and Papers

The class schedule is tentative and subject to change.

Lec #1: Introduction and Course Overview (Mon, Sep 13, 2021)

Goal: Overview of class, learning how to read and review a paper

• Lecture slides [PDF]

• S. Keshav, How to Read a Paper, SIGCOMM CCR 2007.

Lec #2: Underwater to Air Communications (Mon, Sep 20, 2021)

Goal: Learn fundamentals of communications, sensing, RF, acoustics

• Lecture slides [PDF]

• AmphiLight [PDF]

• Required:

  • Networking across boundaries: enabling wireless communication through the water-air interface, ACM SIGCOMM 2018

  • AmphiLight: Direct Air-Water Communication with Laser Light, Usenix NSDI 2020

• Optional:

  • Chapter 2 of Fundamentals of Wireless Communication by Tse & Viswanath

  • Multicarrier Communication Over Underwater Acoustic Channels With Nonuniform Doppler Shifts

  • The WHOI Micro-Modem: An Acoustic Communications and Navigation System for Multiple Platforms

Lec #3: Batteryless Underwater Communications (Mon, Sep 27, 2021)

Goal: Learn fundamentals of energy harvesting, backscatter, end-to-end system design

• Lecture slides [PDF]

• Underwater Ultrasonic Wireless Power Transfer [PDF]

• Required:

  • Underwater backscatter networking, ACM SIGCOMM 2019,

  • Underwater Ultrasonic Wireless Power Transfer: A Battery-less Platform for the Internet of Underwater Things, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing 2020

• Optional:

  • Ultra-Wideband Underwater Backscatter via Piezoelectric Metamaterials, ACM SIGCOMM 2020

  • Design of an RFID-Based Battery-Free Programmable Sensing Platform, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement 2008

Lec #4: Underwater Localization (Mon, Oct 4, 2021)

Goal: Learn fundamentals of localization and physics of wireless/acoustic channel

• Lecture slides [PDF]

• piUSBL [PDF]

• Required:

  • A Survey of Architectures and Localization Techniques for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2011

  • Passive Inverted Ultra-Short Baseline (piUSBL) Localization: An Experimental Evaluation of Accuracy

• Optional:

  • Underwater Backscatter Localization: Toward a Battery-Free Underwater GPS, ACM HotNets 2018

Mon, Oct 11, 2021: No Class (Indigenous Peoples’ Day)

• Meet with instructor during the week to discuss class projects

• Due: Project Proposal + Team (Oct 15)

Lec #5: Underwater Imaging (Mon, Oct 18, 2021)

Goal: Learn fundamentals of underwater imaging and emerging imaging/robotics techniques
Lecturer: Dr. Jules Jaffe, Research Oceanographer, UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography

• Lecture Recording

• Required:

  • Underwater Optical Imaging: The Past, the Present, and the Prospects, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering 2014

  • Underwater dual-magnification imaging for automated lake plankton monitoring, ArXiv Jules Jaffe

• Optional:

  • UWStereoNet: Unsupervised Learning for Depth Estimation and Color Correction of Underwater Stereo Imagery, ICRA 2020

  • Visual tracking of deepwater animals using machine learning-controlled robotic underwater vehicles, WACV 2021

  • An Optical Imaging System for Capturing Images in Low-Light Aquatic Habitats Using Only Ambient Light, DIY Oceanography, 2020

Lec #6: Opportunistic Mobile Sensing using Fishing Vessels/Gear (Mon, Oct 25, 2021)

Goal: Learn about the emerging area of opportunistic sensing in practical deployments
Lecturer: Dr. Julie Jakoboski, Oceanographer, MetOcean

• Required:

  • Fishing gear as a data collection platform: Opportunities to fill spatial and temporal gaps in operational sub-surface observation networks, Frontiers in Marine Science 2020

Due: Project Progress Report 1 (Fri, Oct 29, 2021)

Lec #7: Subsea Ocean Observation (Mon, Nov 1, 2021)

Goal: Learn about recent advances in SMART cables + project check-in
Lecturer: Prof. Bruce Howe, Research Professor, University of Hawaii

• Lecture Recording

• Required:

  • SMART Cables for Observing the Global Ocean: Science and Implementation, Frontiers in Marine Science 2019

Lec #8: Ocean drones: underwater, fish-like, and sail drones (Mon, Nov 8, 2021)

Goal: Learn about fundamental and emerging technologies for marine robotics
Lecturer: Prof. Matthew Johnson-Roberson, Associate Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

• Lecture Recording

• MESOBOT [PDF]

• Required:

  • Saildrone design and capabilities: What Is a Saildrone and How Does It Work?, 2021,

  • Exploration of underwater life with an acoustically controlled soft robotic fish, Science Robotics, 2018

  • Energy-Optimal Path Planning with Active Flow Perception for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, ICRA 2021

  • An Active Perception Approach for Mid-Water Localization of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, ACC, 2020

• Optional:

  • A hybrid underwater robot for multidisciplinary investigation of the ocean twilight zone, Science Robotics, 2021

  • The Argo Program: Present and Future, Oceanography, 2017.

Lec #9: Low-Cost Ocean Instrumentation (Mon, Nov 15, 2021)

Goal: Learn about emerging low-cost ocean instruments to quantify organic carbon fluxes
Lecturer: Prof. Melissa Omand, Associate Professor, University of Rhode Island

• Required:

  • Control System For Low-cost Miniature Isopycnal Floats (Minions)’ Targeting Distributed Observations Of The Oceanic Biological Carbon Pump, URI Thesis, 2020

  • Cloud shadows drive vertical migrations of deep-dwelling marine life, PNAS 2021

• Optional:

  • Passive eDNA collection enhances aquatic biodiversity analysis, Nature Communications Biology, 2021

  • Ecosystem biomonitoring with eDNA: metabarcoding across the tree of life in a tropical marine environment, Scientific Reports, 2020

Due: Project Progress Report 2 (Fri, Nov 19, 2021)

Lec #10: Passive Ocean Acoustics and Bioacoustics (Mon, Nov 22, 2021)

Goal: Learn emerging techniques in passive acoustics and bioacoustics + project check-in
Lecturer: Dr. Julien Bonnel, Associate Scientist, WHOI

• Lecture Recording

• Required:

  • Nonlinear time-warping made simple: A step-by-step tutorial on underwater acoustic modal separation with a single hydrophone, JASA, 2020

• Optional:

  • Deep neural networks for automated detection of marine mammal species, Nature Scientific Reports, 2020

  • Seabed type and source parameters predictions using ship spectrograms in convolutional neural networks featured, JASA, 2020

Lec #11: Remote Sensing and Imaging (Mon, Nov 29, 2021)

Goal: Learn about emerging and classical results in ocean remote sensing
Lecturer: Aiden Fitzpatrick, PhD Candidate, Stanford University

• Ships of Opportunity (SOO)[PDF]

• Bistatically Reflected GPS [PDF]

• DNN for marine mammal detection [PDF]

• Passive eDNA[PDF]

• Biomonitoring eDNA[PDF]

• Required:

  • An Airborne Sonar System for Underwater Remote Sensing and Imaging, IEEE Access 2020

  • Detection and processing of bistatically reflected GPS signals from low earth orbit for the purpose of ocean remote sensing, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2005

Lec #12: Project Presentations & Demos (Mon, Dec 6, 2021)