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I thought radio control does not work for items underwater. How do they control them?
Underwater drones don't use radio — they rely on sound waves (acoustic modems) for long-range communication, fiber-optic tethers for hardwired control, and blue-green laser light for high-speed short-range data.
Why it matters: The control method largely dictates what a drone can do: tethered vehicles are precise but range-limited, while fully autonomous acoustic-guided vehicles can operate over vast ocean distances with no real-time human control.
- Acoustic modems transmit data as sound pulses and can reach tens of kilometers underwater, but at a steep cost: bandwidth is measured in kilobits per second and latency runs 1–2 seconds — too slow for fine real-time maneuvering.
- ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) use a physical fiber-optic tether that carries power, high-bandwidth video, and control signals simultaneously — enabling precise real-time piloting, but capping range at cable length.
- Blue-green laser optical links can hit speeds above 5 Gbps in short-range conditions, since that wavelength penetrates water far better than radio or ordinary light — Kyocera recently demonstrated 5.2 Gbps at short distances.
- Military UUVs on long missions typically run pre-programmed or AI-guided autonomously, surfacing periodically to receive new orders via satellite or radio — real-time control underwater is the exception, not the norm.
Room for disagreement
- Acoustic vs. autonomous tradeoff: some naval analysts argue that any acoustic link is inherently detectable by adversaries, making pre-programmed full autonomy the only genuinely covert option for military UUVs — others counter that brief, low-power acoustic pings in a noisy ocean are practically undetectable in practice.
AI-generated with web search — may be wrong. Check the linked sources.
