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Navies are known to use low frequency radio to send messages to submerged subs.
by 7952 4mo ago
Navies are known to use low frequency radio to send messages to submerged subs.
- raffael_de 4mo agoBut isn't torpedo steering still dependent on wire?
- XorNot 4mo agoThe issue is it doesn't really matter and radio isn't much benefit: you get much higher bandwidth, better reliability, immunity to ECM, and fiber-optic wires in Ukraine are over 50km long. The exact application for this is autonomous underwater vehicles where what you would like to do is communicate quickly and without a tether in arbitrary scenarios - i.e. think a bunch of autonomous vehicles which might need to relay a message or communicate with dropped assets. Using radio in those scenarios solves the problem of a consumable (the wire), and also the problems associated with sonar like fouling of the array.
- raffael_de 4mo agofair enough but afaik torpedoes aren't tethered by a fiber optic cable like drones. it's a much thicker cable that possibly contains a fiber optic cable.
- XorNot 4mo agoRight but they're heavier with far fewer weight concerns then an aircraft. Torpedos are large, heavy and expensive. The point is a very thin wire had a surprisingly long range - versus this system which has a very low bitrate much past 1km. For an active weapons system it's just not a great choice when you already have the wires and they work. But for sensors or vehicle meshing, where you can't lay wires in advance? Potentially huge.
- adrian_b 4mo agoThis uses the same principle, but the traditional method required immense antennas and very high power radio transmitters. Such antennas and transmitters cannot be installed in a small submarine. Here a new kind of antenna is used, which is efficient under water even at small dimensions, so it can be installed in small submarines, for communication at distances of up to a few hundred meter.