October 22, 2026
Submarines face complex technical challenges in exchanging information underwater; The nature of seawater prevents the use of traditional means of communication available on land with the same efficiency, forcing them to rely on special technologies to transfer data.
The main problem is that salt water absorbs most radio waves, which makes direct communication with telephone or satellite networks very difficult when the submarine is in the depths.
To overcome this obstacle, some underwater communication systems use sound waves to transmit information in the form of signals that are received by specialized devices to convert them into digital data. However, this technology still has limited speeds and is vulnerable to marine noise, water temperature and depth.
In the same context, military submarines rely on low-frequency radio waves (VLF and ELF) that are able to penetrate water to varying degrees, but they do not allow the transfer of large amounts of information, and are mainly used to deliver necessary messages and instructions.
When there is a need to exchange larger data packets, antennas raised near the sea surface or communication buoys are used to transmit information to satellites and from there to command centers. However, these means increase the possibility of monitoring the submarine’s location, which makes resorting to them governed by the nature of the mission and its requirements.
At the research level, efforts are continuing to develop technologies that rely on light and lasers to transmit data at high speeds underwater, but they still encounter obstacles related to the clarity of the water and the distance between transmitters and receivers.
Unlike the terrestrial Internet, which provides fast and sustainable communication, the underwater communications system relies on a combination of multiple means, giving priority to essential messages and reducing transmission times. To ensure efficient communication and maintain the confidentiality and safety of operations.
