Special Session 20  会议特别专题 20

Waveform Design and Signal Processing in Underwater Communication and Detection

Description: Underwater acoustic and optical systems are crucial drivers for marine exploration and environmental monitoring. However, underwater channels present unique and severe challenges, including severe multipath propagation, intense absorption and scattering, and dynamic factors. Advanced waveform design and signal processing, as core technologies, play a decisive role in overcoming these channel deficiencies and unlocking the potential of underwater communication and detection systems. Although significant progress has been made in recent years, some key issues still remain to be addressed, such as efficient and robust waveform design for transmission, rapid channel fluctuations, and signal recovery under low signal-to-noise ratio conditions.
To facilitate in-depth academic exchanges on these cutting-edge topics, this special session aims to bring together researchers, engineers, and industry practitioners worldwide engaged in waveform design, modulation and coding schemes, channel estimation and equalization, detection and estimation algorithms, and cross-media acoustic-optical signal processing. The discussions will focus on the latest theoretical advancements, algorithm innovations, experimental validations, and system-level implementations, with the goal of providing a targeted and high-level platform for addressing key technical bottlenecks and planning future research directions in underwater acoustic and optical communication and detection.

Session organizers
Assoc. Prof. Wei Men, Harbin Engineering University, China
Dr. Changpeng Liu, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Prof. Meiwei Kong, Tongji University, China
Prof. Fangjiong Chen, South China University of Technology, China

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
▪ Novel coding scheme, modulation scheme, multiplexing scheme and waveform design for underwater acoustic or optical communication and detection
▪ Channel estimation and equalization methods for underwater acoustic or optical communications
▪ Waveform design and signal processing techniques for integrated underwater communication and detection
▪ Underwater acoustic-optical joint system design and signal processing techniques
▪ Simulation/Emulation system and prototype for underwater communication and detection
▪ Novel underwater image enhancement, target detection, as well as acquisition, pointing, and tracking technologies for underwater acoustic or optical detection

Submission method
Submit your Full Paper (no less than 5 pages with two colums) or your paper abstract-without publication (200-400 words) via Online Submission System, then choose Special Session 20 (Waveform Design and Signal Processing in Underwater Communication and Detection)
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Introduction of Session organizer

Assoc. Prof. Wei Men, Harbin Engineering University, China

Wei Men is an Associate Professor at the College of Underwater Acoustic Engineering, Harbin Engineering University. He received the B.S. degree and Ph.D. degree in underwater acoustic engineering from Harbin Engineering University, in 2018, and 2023, respectively. From 2023 to 2025, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University. From January to June 2025, he visited the school of EEE at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests are underwater acoustic communications and networks, and integrated detection and communication. He is the recipient of the Best Paper Award from IEEE ICICSP and the Best Student Paper Award from IEEE ICSPCC.



Dr. Changpeng Liu, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Dr. Changpeng Liu obtained his Doctorate degree from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) in 2023 and joined the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) the same year as a Special Research Assistant. In 2023, He was awarded the President's Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (the highest award for postgraduate students of the CAS), in recognition of the academic achievements and contributions made during the doctoral postgraduate period. His research interests focus on the acoustic signal processing, array signal processing and underwater acoustics. His work covers aspects such as the interference characteristics of underwater acoustic signals, improved beamforming techniques for underwater arrays, striation transformation and image processing methods. To date, he has published over 19 academic papers and reports, including 13 SCI-indexed papers and 4 EI-indexed conference papers. Additionally, he has granted 12 invention patents and awarded the grants of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, CAS Special Research Assistant (SRA) Program and National Natural Science Foundation of China for Young Scientists.



Prof. Meiwei Kong, Tongji University, China

Meiwei Kong, from the School of Ocean and Earth Science at Tongji University, majoring in Marine Science and Technology, is a research fellow and a doctoral supervisor. She is also a dual-appointment doctoral supervisor at the "Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems" of Tongji University. Currently, she serves as the deputy director of the Marine Geology Department (now the Marine Science and Technology Department) and the head of the Marine Technology Department. She is a member of the “China National Scientific Seafloor Observatory” project team, mainly researching underwater wireless optical communication technology. She is a Young Talent (Overseas) of Shanghai Leading Talent. She was nominated for the 2023 Ocean Powerhouse Young Scientist Award. She is the principal investigator of the second batch of Shanghai Youth Innovation Laboratory "Tongji University Marine Innovation Technology Laboratory". She received her doctoral degree from the Ocean College of Zhejiang University, majoring in Marine Information Science and Engineering. She was a postdoctoral researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Her research interests mainly include digital signal processing, underwater wireless optical communication, acoustic-optical-radio frequency fusion communication, underwater target detection, underwater acquisition pointing and tracking, wireless optical energy transmission, etc.. She has published over 30 SCI journal articles. She is the associate editor of the IEEE Photonics Technology Letters journal.



Prof. Fangjiong Chen, South China University of Technology, China

Fangjiong Chen received a B.S. degree in electronics and information technology from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 1997 and received a Ph.D. degree in communication and information engineering from South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, in 2002. He was a senior research associate in the Department of Computer Science, City University of Hongkong, Hongkong, China, from July 2006 to June 2007. Currently, he is a full-time Professor at the School of Electronics and Information Engineering, South China University of Technology. He is the Director of the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Short-Range Wireless Detection and Communication.
Prof. Chen is a co-recipient of the Best Demo Award of 2018 International Conference on
Underwater Networks & Systems, and 2025 International Conference on Communication in China. He is also a co-author of the Best Paper Award of 2016 International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications, 2019 International Conference on Communication Technology, and 2023 international conference on ubiquitous communication. His research interests include signal detection and estimation, array signal processing, and acoustic/radio communication.