Chaotic direct sequence spread spectrum for secure underwater acoustic communication

Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) has been widely used in underwater acoustic (UWA) communications. In DSSS communications, spreading sequence’s period and chip rate are important characteristic parameters. However, these characteristic parameters may be detected in hostile environments due to the periodic nature of spreading sequence and their well-known construction process. In this paper, a novel chaotic direct sequence spread spectrum (CD3S) method is proposed for secure UWA communications. In the CD3S communications, chaotic sequences acting as encryption keys are used to encrypt the phases of transmitted signals. Consequently, the application of chaotic sequences disguises these obvious characteristic parameters of spread spectrum (SS) signals. It is difficult for unauthorized users to detect or intercept CD3S signal without knowledge of corresponding chaotic sequences. Hence, CD3S signal has a lower probability of detection and interception. Moreover, CD3S can achieve similar bit error ratio (BER) performance compared with DSSS in actual UWA communications. Also, the receivers that are suitable for DSSS communication can also be applied to CD3S communication. Numerical simulations demonstrate its excellent performance and potential applications in confidential UWA communications.