Underwater Backscatter Localization

Abstract

Can we build a battery-free underwater GPS? While underwater localization is a long-studied problem, in this paper, we seek to bring it to battery-free underwater networks. These recently-introduced networks communicate by simply backscattering (i.e., reflecting) acoustic signals. While such backscatter-based communication enables them to operate at net-zero power, it also introduces new and unique challenges for underwater localization.