Rred
Contributor
Rashly assuming it is, after all, an acoustic modem. Remember that is old ground for the computer and telephone businesses. To rashly oversimplify, the old 300 baud modems had two signal states, high and low. In the evolution to 56k modems, and in the PACTOR IV modems used with HF radio today (even by NATO) they've gotten up to varying the signal 16 ways, so more data can be packed in each cycle. (16 possible states instead of 2.)
But there were pros and cons to every added complication, and I suspect that would also apply to hydro-acoustic modems. Processing power is cheap these days, but still...if you wanted to stick it on someone's wrist instead of their mule, and you were just carrying "text" messages with short data bursts, there might be good reason to intentionally chose a low-overhead protocol. Standards?
Standards only happen when someone like the USN says "Any vendor wanting to contract with us for the sale of goods shall comply with USN Standard No. XYZ."
Which also happens to be why cars and trucks pretty much all have had 12V negative ground electrical systems since WW2. And why they all build oil pressure and are fully operational within seconds after you hit the key. (Thank you, USN Procurement people!)
But there were pros and cons to every added complication, and I suspect that would also apply to hydro-acoustic modems. Processing power is cheap these days, but still...if you wanted to stick it on someone's wrist instead of their mule, and you were just carrying "text" messages with short data bursts, there might be good reason to intentionally chose a low-overhead protocol. Standards?
Standards only happen when someone like the USN says "Any vendor wanting to contract with us for the sale of goods shall comply with USN Standard No. XYZ."
Which also happens to be why cars and trucks pretty much all have had 12V negative ground electrical systems since WW2. And why they all build oil pressure and are fully operational within seconds after you hit the key. (Thank you, USN Procurement people!)