The underwater acoustic communication (UAC) operating in very shallow-water should ensure reliable transmission in conditions of strong multipath propagation, significantly disturbing the received signal. One of the techniques to achieve this goal is the direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) technique, which consists in binary phase shift keying (BPSK) according to a pseudo-random spreading sequence.
This paper describes the DSSS data transmission tests in the simulation and experimental environment, using different types of pseudo-noise sequences: m-sequences and Kasami codes of the order 6 and 8. The transmitted signals are of different bandwidth and the detection at the receiver side was performed using two detection methods: non-differential and differential.
The performed experiments allowed to draw important conclusions for the designing of a physical layer of the shallow-water UAC system. Both, m-sequences and Kasami codes allow to achieve a similar bit error rate, which at best was less than 10 ⁻³. At the same time, the 6th order sequences are not long enough to achieve an acceptable BER under strong multipath conditions. In the case of transmission of wideband signals the differential detection algorithm allows to achieve a significantly better BER (less than 10 ⁻²) than nondifferential one (BER not less than 10 ⁻¹). In the case of narrowband signals the simulation tests have shown that the non-differential algorithm gives a better BER, but experimental tests under conditions of strong multipath propagation did not confirm it. The differential algorithm allowed to achieve a BER less than 10 ⁻² in experimental tests, while the second algorithm allowed to obtain, at best, a BER less than 10 ⁻¹. In addition, two indicators have been proposed for a rough assessment which of the detection algorithms under current propagation conditions in the channel will allow to obtain a better BER.

The understanding the influence of biological processes on the characteristics of the signals backscattered by the sea floor is crucial in the development of the hydroacoustical benthic habitat classification techniques. The impact of the microphytobenthos photosynthesis on the acoustical backscattering properties of the Atlantic sandy sediments was previously demonstrated by Holliday et al. (2004) and Wildman and Huettel (2012). To account for the sensitivity of the hydroacoustical classification techniques to the backscattering properties of local marine sediments, it is important to understand the microphytobenthos photosynthesis impact for the Baltic Sea where the techniques are being actively developed now. This is the main motivation of the paper. In the paper the influence of the microphytobenthos photosynthesis on the characteristics of the echo signals reflected by sandy sediments in the typical Baltic temperature and the salinity conditions is discussed. The interdisciplinary multiday laboratory experiment was conducted to study the impact of benthic microalgal photosynthesis on the characteristics of the echo signal reflected by sandy sediments. Hydroacoustical data were collected under controlled constant light, temperature and salinity conditions. The oxygen content at different levels of the water column was simultaneously monitored.