Digital acoustic communications using decision directed learning

This document serves as a dissertation for the Doctor of Philosophy in Ocean Engineering degree at Florida Atlantic University's Department of Ocean Engineering. This dissertation documents the design, development, and performance analysis of an acoustic receiver system that incorporates a decision directed learning filter for acoustic multi-phase shift keying signals. The system makes use of advanced signal processing, inclusive of spatial diversity and decision directed learning techniques in order to decode digital acoustic data. Error correcting techniques are also employed as well as methods of analyzing the efficiency of the system.