Experimental RSSI, SINR, and Throughput Analysis of Drone-Enabled UOC-RF Communication for Real-Time Underwater Video Streaming

Abstract

This paper proposes a hybrid underwater drone communication system that combines underwater optical communication (UOC) and radio-frequency (RF) communication to support real-time video streaming in underwater environments. The system consists of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that transmits video to a surface gateway, which relays the video to onshore facilities through a 5G network. An outdoor experiment conducted in a maritime environment measured the received signal strength indicator (RSSI), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), occupied bandwidth, and end-to-end (E2E) throughput at 700 MHz and 2600 MHz with video frame rates ranging from 10 to 60 fps. The results show that the 700 MHz frequency band provides higher RSSI and SINR, which support more reliable long-range communications, while the 2600 MHz frequency band provides lower RSSI and SINR but a larger bandwidth. The maximum E2E throughput achieved was 53.5 Mbps at 700 MHz and 58.64 Mbps at 2600 MHz. Increasing frame rates mainly affects throughput by reducing SINR. These results analyze the coverage–capacity trade-off and provide valuable insights for drone-assisted hybrid UOC-RF communication in underwater video streaming applications.