Ultrasound, composed of sound waves with frequencies above the human audible range, has become widely used in various technological fields for digital communications. In the past, acoustic and ultrasonic waves were employed in military and commercial un-derwater wireless communication systems due to their superior performance compared to electromagnetic waves. Ultrasound has also emerged as a viable alternative to radio and wired transmission for data transmission through solid bodies like metal plates and pipe walls. Notably, ultrasound offers high-security features as it is nearly undetectable from outside the room, minimizing the risks of wireless interception and attacks like Bluesniping and jamming.

In any digital communication system, understanding the propagation channel between the transmitter and receiver is crucial. The ultrasound communication channel comprises three main components: transmitting and receiving transducers and the medium through which the sound propagates. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multi-carrier scheme that divides the available spectrum into multiple non-overlapping subcarriers for digital communication.

In the context of ultrasound communication, the channel consists of two parts: the combined response of the transducers used as the transmitter and receiver, and the im-pulse response of the propagation medium. When dealing with a thin plate with parallel surfaces, this results in a reverberating channel. The reverberating channel comprises a primary pulse along with echo pulses that possess similar shapes but decaying amplitudes. The amplitude decay occurs due to four prominent factors: power losses in the trans-ducers at each side, transmission losses at the boundaries of the plate and transducer, ultrasound pulse attenuation within the plate, and beam spreading as the ultrasound pulse travels over distance. The reverberations elongate the impulse response of the channel, thus require a long cyclic prefix to prevent data symbols to overlap. However, this limitation restricts the achievable bit rate and energy efficiency of the system.

In this thesis, we present a model for the reverberating ultrasound channel suitable for various plate materials. We propose a novel system-level path loss model that accounts for losses at the transducers, transmission losses, material attenuation, and diffraction losses. Based on this model, we calculate a comprehensive link budget that explicitly considers plate thickness. Furthermore, we conduct a quantitative analysis to evaluate the impact of Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) and Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) on the performance of the OFDM system. Through computer simulations, we evaluate the system’s performance and demonstrate that for a metal plate with a thickness of 5 mm, an uncoded data rate of 32 Mbps can be achieved.