Acoustic iso-propagation vortices for robust underwater communications

Acoustic iso-propagation vortices for robust underwater communications | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Acoustic iso-propagation vortices for robust underwater communications Jianyu Hua, Chenzhe Wang, Tianye Zhang, Mark Kelly, Yan Deng, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9192695/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Underwater acoustic communications are limited by low information capacity and data rate[1]. While orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) multiplexing can address these issues[2], conventional OAM beams scale poorly in realistic ocean environments over long distances because their beam diameter increases with topological charge [3,4], amplifying crosstalk and alignment sensitivity over range. We address these challenges by introducing acoustic iso-propagation vortices (IPVs), engineered superpositions of OAM modes whose far-field envelope is effectively independent of the OAM topological charge, thus preserving a fixed spatial profile while retaining an orthogonal set of OAM states for multiplexing. The design leverages recent optical IPV theory in acoustics and is compatible with the existing transducer arrays used in previous studies [4]. We evaluate the wave propagation characteristics and modal-domain demultiplexing performance of multiplexed IPV channels in shallow-water channels using the BELLHOP ray-tracing framework with representative sound-speed profiles and surface roughness to simulate real ocean environments. Our theoretical study shows that, compared with conventional OAM beams, IPVs (i) maintain near-constant beam width across OAM topological charges, (ii) increase robustness by reducing modal coupling under turbulence and multipath propagation, and (iii) improve demultiplexing fidelity without increasing Receiver array aperture size or transmit power. These results indicate that, rather than OAM serving only as a fragile information-encoding capacity booster, acoustic IPVs have the potential to become a scalable physical-layer primitive for long-range, highly reliable underwater communication, and suggest immediate extensions to resilient MIMO-based underwater wireless communications and wide-aperture sonar. Physical sciences/Engineering Earth and environmental sciences/Ocean sciences Physical sciences/Physics Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 11 May, 2026 Reviews received at journal 01 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 20 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 18 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 14 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 14 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 24 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 24 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 22 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9192695","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":625370680,"identity":"a099d5fd-fecf-498b-9e42-e3fd8c86dcb4","order_by":0,"name":"Jianyu Hua","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Michigan–Ann Arbor","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jianyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Hua","suffix":""},{"id":625370681,"identity":"4b4371ee-896c-4ccb-8a68-ef377ae27a22","order_by":1,"name":"Chenzhe Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Michigan–Ann 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