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Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks
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Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensor Networks".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2017) | Viewed by 158299

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jaime Lloret

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Integrated Management Coastal Research Institute, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: network protocols; network algorithms; wireless sensor networks; ad hoc networks; multimedia streaming
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sensor technology is increasing by leaps and bounds. Today we can find smaller and more powerful sensor devices than few time ago. In some cases even cheaper. This fact allows the development of cheaper infrastructures for underwater monitoring, a wider range of underwater monitoring applications, the inclusion of more parameters for the observation of aquatic plants, fish or seafood, and the implementation of more complex data adquisition systems. Cheaper devices with better features facilitate the deployment of underwater sensor networks for coral reef conservation, aquaculture precision implementation and and sea pollution monitoring. More than 70% of the Earth is covered by water (about 97% of all the Earth's water is contained within the oceans as salt water), so there is a huge underwater environment to discover and research which needs new sensors and sensor networks. Moreover, there are multiple ways to communicate wired and wireless including acoustic, optical and Radio Frequency (RF) communications.

You are welcome to submit an original unpublished work related with underwater sensor nodes and underwater sensor networks.

Dr. Jaime Lloret
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • underwater sensors
  • underwater sensor nodes
  • underwater sensor networks
  • underwater monitoring
  • underwater surveillance

Published Papers (31 papers)

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17 pages, 2697 KiB  
Article
A Glider-Assisted Link Disruption Restoration Mechanism in Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks
by Zhigang Jin, Ning Wang, Yishan Su and Qiuling Yang
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 501; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18020501 - 07 Feb 2018
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3427
Abstract
Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) have become a hot research topic. In UASNs, nodes can be affected by ocean currents and external forces, which could result in sudden link disruption. Therefore, designing a flexible and efficient link disruption restoration mechanism to ensure the [...] Read more.
Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) have become a hot research topic. In UASNs, nodes can be affected by ocean currents and external forces, which could result in sudden link disruption. Therefore, designing a flexible and efficient link disruption restoration mechanism to ensure the network connectivity is a challenge. In the paper, we propose a glider-assisted restoration mechanism which includes link disruption recognition and related link restoring mechanism. In the link disruption recognition mechanism, the cluster heads collect the link disruption information and then schedule gliders acting as relay nodes to restore the disrupted link. Considering the glider’s sawtooth motion, we design a relay location optimization algorithm with a consideration of both the glider’s trajectory and acoustic channel attenuation model. The utility function is established by minimizing the channel attenuation and the optimal location of glider is solved by a multiplier method. The glider-assisted restoration mechanism can greatly improve the packet delivery rate and reduce the communication energy consumption and it is more general for the restoration of different link disruption scenarios. The simulation results show that glider-assisted restoration mechanism can improve the delivery rate of data packets by 15–33% compared with cooperative opportunistic routing (OVAR), the hop-by-hop vector-based forwarding (HH-VBF) and the vector based forward (VBF) methods, and reduce communication energy consumption by 20–58% for a typical network’s setting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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22 pages, 4712 KiB  
Article
Random Access for Underwater Acoustic Cellular Systems
by Rothna Pec, Mohammed Saquib Khan, Muhammad Asim and Yong Soo Cho
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 432; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18020432 - 01 Feb 2018
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5403
Abstract
In this paper, a random access preamble (RAP) design technique for underwater acoustic cellular systems is proposed. After showing that the conventional RAP used in long term evolution (LTE) systems is not appropriate for underwater acoustic cellular systems, two different types of RAPs [...] Read more.
In this paper, a random access preamble (RAP) design technique for underwater acoustic cellular systems is proposed. After showing that the conventional RAP used in long term evolution (LTE) systems is not appropriate for underwater acoustic cellular systems, two different types of RAPs (RAP 1 and RAP 2) are proposed to detect the identity of underwater equipment/nodes (UEs) and estimate the time delay between a UE and an underwater base station (UBS) at the physical layer. RAP 1 is generated using a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence where the identity of the UE is mapped to its root index, whereas RAP 2 is generated using a linear frequency modulation (LFM) waveform where the identity of the UE is mapped to its frequency sweeping parameter and frequency shifting parameter. Ambiguity functions (AFs) and cross-ambiguity functions (CAFs) of RAP 1 and RAP 2 are derived to investigate their correlation properties under the effect of time delay and Doppler shift. The performance of RAP detection is investigated by analyzing the detection probabilities and false alarm probabilities of RAP 1 and RAP 2 in a Doppler environment. By evaluating the performances of RAP 1 and RAP 2 in various situations, it is concluded that RAP 2 is more suitable for underwater acoustic cellular systems. The AF and CAF analytically obtained in this paper are shown to be similar to those obtained using experimental data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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16 pages, 823 KiB  
Article
Impact of MAC Delay on AUV Localization: Underwater Localization Based on Hyperbolic Frequency Modulation Signal
by Sungryul Kim and Younghwan Yoo
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 356; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18020356 - 26 Jan 2018
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3332
Abstract
Medium Access Control (MAC) delay which occurs between the anchor node’s transmissions is one of the error sources in underwater localization. In particular, in AUV localization, the MAC delay significantly degrades the ranging accuracy. The Cramer-Rao Low Bound (CRLB) definition theoretically proves that [...] Read more.
Medium Access Control (MAC) delay which occurs between the anchor node’s transmissions is one of the error sources in underwater localization. In particular, in AUV localization, the MAC delay significantly degrades the ranging accuracy. The Cramer-Rao Low Bound (CRLB) definition theoretically proves that the MAC delay significantly degrades the localization performance. This paper proposes underwater localization combined with multiple access technology to decouple the localization performance from the MAC delay. Towards this goal, we adopt hyperbolic frequency modulation (HFM) signal that provides multiplexing based on its good property, high-temporal correlation. Owing to the multiplexing ability of the HFM signal, the anchor nodes can transmit packets without MAC delay, i.e., simultaneous transmission is possible. In addition, the simulation results show that the simultaneous transmission is not an optional communication scheme, but essential for the localization of mobile object in underwater. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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18 pages, 6982 KiB  
Article
Spatial Vertical Directionality and Correlation of Low-Frequency Ambient Noise in Deep Ocean Direct-Arrival Zones
by Qiulong Yang, Kunde Yang, Ran Cao and Shunli Duan
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 319; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18020319 - 23 Jan 2018
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4368
Abstract
Wind-driven and distant shipping noise sources contribute to the total noise field in the deep ocean direct-arrival zones. Wind-driven and distant shipping noise sources may significantly and simultaneously affect the spatial characteristics of the total noise field to some extent. In this work, [...] Read more.
Wind-driven and distant shipping noise sources contribute to the total noise field in the deep ocean direct-arrival zones. Wind-driven and distant shipping noise sources may significantly and simultaneously affect the spatial characteristics of the total noise field to some extent. In this work, a ray approach and parabolic equation solution method were jointly utilized to model the low-frequency ambient noise field in a range-dependent deep ocean environment by considering their calculation accuracy and efficiency in near-field wind-driven and far-field distant shipping noise fields. The reanalysis databases of National Center of Environment Prediction (NCEP) and Volunteer Observation System (VOS) were used to model the ambient noise source intensity and distribution. Spatial vertical directionality and correlation were analyzed in three scenarios that correspond to three wind speed conditions. The noise field was dominated by distant shipping noise sources when the wind speed was less than 3 m/s, and then the spatial vertical directionality and vertical correlation of the total noise field were nearly consistent with those of distant shipping noise field. The total noise field was completely dominated by near field wind generated noise sources when the wind speed was greater than 12 m/s at 150 Hz, and then the spatial vertical correlation coefficient and directionality pattern of the total noise field was approximately consistent with that of the wind-driven noise field. The spatial characteristics of the total noise field for wind speeds between 3 m/s and 12 m/s were the weighted results of wind-driven and distant shipping noise fields. Furthermore, the spatial characteristics of low-frequency ambient noise field were compared with the classical Cron/Sherman deep water noise field coherence function. Simulation results with the described modeling method showed good agreement with the experimental measurement results based on the vertical line array deployed near the bottom in deep ocean direct-arrival zones. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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22 pages, 1146 KiB  
Article
Throughput Analysis on 3-Dimensional Underwater Acoustic Network with One-Hop Mobile Relay
by Xuefeng Zhong, Fangjiong Chen, Jiasheng Fan, Quansheng Guan, Fei Ji and Hua Yu
Sensors 2018, 18(1), 252; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18010252 - 16 Jan 2018
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3525
Abstract
Underwater acoustic communication network (UACN) has been considered as an essential infrastructure for ocean exploitation. Performance analysis of UACN is important in underwater acoustic network deployment and management. In this paper, we analyze the network throughput of three-dimensional randomly deployed transmitter–receiver pairs. Due [...] Read more.
Underwater acoustic communication network (UACN) has been considered as an essential infrastructure for ocean exploitation. Performance analysis of UACN is important in underwater acoustic network deployment and management. In this paper, we analyze the network throughput of three-dimensional randomly deployed transmitter–receiver pairs. Due to the long delay of acoustic channels, complicated networking protocols with heavy signaling overhead may not be appropriate. In this paper, we consider only one-hop or two-hop transmission, to save the signaling cost. That is, we assume the transmitter sends the data packet to the receiver by one-hop direct transmission, or by two-hop transmission via mobile relays. We derive the closed-form formulation of packet delivery rate with respect to the transmission delay and the number of transmitter–receiver pairs. The correctness of the derivation results are verified by computer simulations. Our analysis indicates how to obtain a precise tradeoff between the delay constraint and the network capacity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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17 pages, 922 KiB  
Article
A Localization-Free Interference and Energy Holes Minimization Routing for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks
by Anwar Khan, Ismail Ahmedy, Mohammad Hossein Anisi, Nadeem Javaid, Ihsan Ali, Nawsher Khan, Mohammed Alsaqer and Hasan Mahmood
Sensors 2018, 18(1), 165; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18010165 - 09 Jan 2018
Cited by 47 | Viewed by 5571
Abstract
Interference and energy holes formation in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) threaten the reliable delivery of data packets from a source to a destination. Interference also causes inefficient utilization of the limited battery power of the sensor nodes in that more power is [...] Read more.
Interference and energy holes formation in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) threaten the reliable delivery of data packets from a source to a destination. Interference also causes inefficient utilization of the limited battery power of the sensor nodes in that more power is consumed in the retransmission of the lost packets. Energy holes are dead nodes close to the surface of water, and their early death interrupts data delivery even when the network has live nodes. This paper proposes a localization-free interference and energy holes minimization (LF-IEHM) routing protocol for UWSNs. The proposed algorithm overcomes interference during data packet forwarding by defining a unique packet holding time for every sensor node. The energy holes formation is mitigated by a variable transmission range of the sensor nodes. As compared to the conventional routing protocols, the proposed protocol does not require the localization information of the sensor nodes, which is cumbersome and difficult to obtain, as nodes change their positions with water currents. Simulation results show superior performance of the proposed scheme in terms of packets received at the final destination and end-to-end delay. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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27 pages, 772 KiB  
Article
Retransmission Avoidance for Reliable Data Delivery in Underwater WSNs
by Babar Ali, Arshad Sher, Nadeem Javaid, Saif Ul Islam, Khursheed Aurangzeb and Syed Irtaza Haider
Sensors 2018, 18(1), 149; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18010149 - 07 Jan 2018
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3974
Abstract
The energy-efficient and reliable delivery of data packets in resource constraint underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) is one of the key considerations to enhance the network lifetime. The traditional re-transmissions approach consumes the node battery and increases the communication overhead, which results in [...] Read more.
The energy-efficient and reliable delivery of data packets in resource constraint underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) is one of the key considerations to enhance the network lifetime. The traditional re-transmissions approach consumes the node battery and increases the communication overhead, which results in congestion and affects the reliable data packet delivery in the network. To ensure the reliability and conserve the node battery, in this paper, we propose adaptive forwarding layer multipath power control routing protocol to reduce the energy dissipation, achieve the data reliability and avoid the energy hole problem. In order to achieve the reliability, tree based topology is exploited to direct multiple copies of the data packet towards the surface through cross nodes in the network. The energy dissipation is reduced by a substantial amount with the selection of low noise path between the source and the destination including the information of neighbors of the potential forwarder node. Extensive simulation results show that our proposed work outperforms the compared existing scheme in terms of energy efficiency and packet received ratio (PRR). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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868 KiB  
Article
Energy Harvesting Hybrid Acoustic-Optical Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks Localization
by Nasir Saeed, Abdulkadir Celik, Tareq Y. Al-Naffouri and Mohamed-Slim Alouini
Sensors 2018, 18(1), 51; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18010051 - 26 Dec 2017
Cited by 72 | Viewed by 7046
Abstract
Underwater wireless technologies demand to transmit at higher data rate for ocean exploration. Currently, large coverage is achieved by acoustic sensor networks with low data rate, high cost, high latency, high power consumption, and negative impact on marine mammals. Meanwhile, optical communication for [...] Read more.
Underwater wireless technologies demand to transmit at higher data rate for ocean exploration. Currently, large coverage is achieved by acoustic sensor networks with low data rate, high cost, high latency, high power consumption, and negative impact on marine mammals. Meanwhile, optical communication for underwater networks has the advantage of the higher data rate albeit for limited communication distances. Moreover, energy consumption is another major problem for underwater sensor networks, due to limited battery power and difficulty in replacing or recharging the battery of a sensor node. The ultimate solution to this problem is to add energy harvesting capability to the acoustic-optical sensor nodes. Localization of underwater sensor networks is of utmost importance because the data collected from underwater sensor nodes is useful only if the location of the nodes is known. Therefore, a novel localization technique for energy harvesting hybrid acoustic-optical underwater wireless sensor networks (AO-UWSNs) is proposed. AO-UWSN employs optical communication for higher data rate at a short transmission distance and employs acoustic communication for low data rate and long transmission distance. A hybrid received signal strength (RSS) based localization technique is proposed to localize the nodes in AO-UWSNs. The proposed technique combines the noisy RSS based measurements from acoustic communication and optical communication and estimates the final locations of acoustic-optical sensor nodes. A weighted multiple observations paradigm is proposed for hybrid estimated distances to suppress the noisy observations and give more importance to the accurate observations. Furthermore, the closed form solution for Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) is derived for localization accuracy of the proposed technique. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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452 KiB  
Article
Link Connectivity and Coverage of Underwater Cognitive Acoustic Networks under Spectrum Constraint
by Qiu Wang, Hong-Ning Dai, Chak Fong Cheang and Hao Wang
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2839; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17122839 - 07 Dec 2017
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3496
Abstract
Extensive attention has been given to the use of cognitive radio technology in underwater acoustic networks since the acoustic spectrum became scarce due to the proliferation of human aquatic activities. Most of the recent studies on underwater cognitive acoustic networks (UCANs) mainly focus [...] Read more.
Extensive attention has been given to the use of cognitive radio technology in underwater acoustic networks since the acoustic spectrum became scarce due to the proliferation of human aquatic activities. Most of the recent studies on underwater cognitive acoustic networks (UCANs) mainly focus on spectrum management or protocol design. Few efforts have addressed the quality-of-service (QoS) of UCANs. In UCANs, secondary users (SUs) have lower priority to use acoustic spectrum than primary users (PUs) with higher priority to access spectrum. As a result, the QoS of SUs is difficult to ensure in UCANs. This paper proposes an analytical model to investigate the link connectivity and the probability of coverage of SUs in UCANs. In particular, this model takes both topological connectivity and spectrum availability into account, though spectrum availability has been ignored in most recent studies. We conduct extensive simulations to evaluate the effectiveness and the accuracy of our proposed model. Simulation results show that our proposed model is quite accurate. Besides, our results also imply that the link connectivity and the probability of coverage of SUs heavily depend on both the underwater acoustic channel conditions and the activities of PUs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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429 KiB  
Article
Node Depth Adjustment Based Target Tracking in UWSNs Using Improved Harmony Search
by Meiqin Liu, Duo Zhang, Senlin Zhang and Qunfei Zhang
Sensors 2017, 17(12), 2807; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17122807 - 04 Dec 2017
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3225
Abstract
Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) can provide a promising solution to underwater target tracking. Due to the limited computation and bandwidth resources, only a small part of nodes are selected to track the target at each interval. How to improve tracking accuracy with [...] Read more.
Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) can provide a promising solution to underwater target tracking. Due to the limited computation and bandwidth resources, only a small part of nodes are selected to track the target at each interval. How to improve tracking accuracy with a small number of nodes is a key problem. In recent years, a node depth adjustment system has been developed and applied to issues of network deployment and routing protocol. As far as we know, all existing tracking schemes keep underwater nodes static or moving with water flow, and node depth adjustment has not been utilized for underwater target tracking yet. This paper studies node depth adjustment method for target tracking in UWSNs. Firstly, since a Fisher Information Matrix (FIM) can quantify the estimation accuracy, its relation to node depth is derived as a metric. Secondly, we formulate the node depth adjustment as an optimization problem to determine moving depth of activated node, under the constraint of moving range, the value of FIM is used as objective function, which is aimed to be minimized over moving distance of nodes. Thirdly, to efficiently solve the optimization problem, an improved Harmony Search (HS) algorithm is proposed, in which the generating probability is modified to improve searching speed and accuracy. Finally, simulation results are presented to verify performance of our scheme. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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1720 KiB  
Article
Optimal Quantization Scheme for Data-Efficient Target Tracking via UWSNs Using Quantized Measurements
by Senlin Zhang, Huayan Chen, Meiqin Liu and Qunfei Zhang
Sensors 2017, 17(11), 2565; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17112565 - 07 Nov 2017
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3612
Abstract
Target tracking is one of the broad applications of underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs). However, as a result of the temporal and spatial variability of acoustic channels, underwater acoustic communications suffer from an extremely limited bandwidth. In order to reduce network congestion, it [...] Read more.
Target tracking is one of the broad applications of underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs). However, as a result of the temporal and spatial variability of acoustic channels, underwater acoustic communications suffer from an extremely limited bandwidth. In order to reduce network congestion, it is important to shorten the length of the data transmitted from local sensors to the fusion center by quantization. Although quantization can reduce bandwidth cost, it also brings about bad tracking performance as a result of information loss after quantization. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an optimal quantization-based target tracking scheme. It improves the tracking performance of low-bit quantized measurements by minimizing the additional covariance caused by quantization. The simulation demonstrates that our scheme performs much better than the conventional uniform quantization-based target tracking scheme and the increment of the data length affects our scheme only a little. Its tracking performance improves by only 4.4% from 2- to 3-bit, which means our scheme weakly depends on the number of data bits. Moreover, our scheme also weakly depends on the number of participate sensors, and it can work well in sparse sensor networks. In a 6 × 6 × 6 sensor network, compared with 4 × 4 × 4 sensor networks, the number of participant sensors increases by 334.92%, while the tracking accuracy using 1-bit quantized measurements improves by only 50.77%. Overall, our optimal quantization-based target tracking scheme can achieve the pursuit of data-efficiency, which fits the requirements of low-bandwidth UWSNs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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7221 KiB  
Article
Optimal Deployment of Sensor Nodes Based on Performance Surface of Underwater Acoustic Communication
by Sunhyo Kim and Jee Woong Choi
Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2389; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17102389 - 20 Oct 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4800
Abstract
The underwater acoustic sensor network (UWASN) is a system that exchanges data between numerous sensor nodes deployed in the sea. The UWASN uses an underwater acoustic communication technique to exchange data. Therefore, it is important to design a robust system that will function [...] Read more.
The underwater acoustic sensor network (UWASN) is a system that exchanges data between numerous sensor nodes deployed in the sea. The UWASN uses an underwater acoustic communication technique to exchange data. Therefore, it is important to design a robust system that will function even in severely fluctuating underwater communication conditions, along with variations in the ocean environment. In this paper, a new algorithm to find the optimal deployment positions of underwater sensor nodes is proposed. The algorithm uses the communication performance surface, which is a map showing the underwater acoustic communication performance of a targeted area. A virtual force-particle swarm optimization algorithm is then used as an optimization technique to find the optimal deployment positions of the sensor nodes, using the performance surface information to estimate the communication radii of the sensor nodes in each generation. The algorithm is evaluated by comparing simulation results between two different seasons (summer and winter) for an area located off the eastern coast of Korea as the selected targeted area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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5474 KiB  
Article
Object Classification in Semi Structured Enviroment Using Forward-Looking Sonar
by Matheus Dos Santos, Pedro Otávio Ribeiro, Pedro Núñez, Paulo Drews-Jr and Silvia Botelho
Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2235; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17102235 - 29 Sep 2017
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5866
Abstract
The submarine exploration using robots has been increasing in recent years. The automation of tasks such as monitoring, inspection, and underwater maintenance requires the understanding of the robot’s environment. The object recognition in the scene is becoming a critical issue for these systems. [...] Read more.
The submarine exploration using robots has been increasing in recent years. The automation of tasks such as monitoring, inspection, and underwater maintenance requires the understanding of the robot’s environment. The object recognition in the scene is becoming a critical issue for these systems. On this work, an underwater object classification pipeline applied in acoustic images acquired by Forward-Looking Sonar (FLS) are studied. The object segmentation combines thresholding, connected pixels searching and peak of intensity analyzing techniques. The object descriptor extract intensity and geometric features of the detected objects. A comparison between the Support Vector Machine, K-Nearest Neighbors, and Random Trees classifiers are presented. An open-source tool was developed to annotate and classify the objects and evaluate their classification performance. The proposed method efficiently segments and classifies the structures in the scene using a real dataset acquired by an underwater vehicle in a harbor area. Experimental results demonstrate the robustness and accuracy of the method described in this paper. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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1459 KiB  
Article
EDOVE: Energy and Depth Variance-Based Opportunistic Void Avoidance Scheme for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks
by Safdar Hussain Bouk, Syed Hassan Ahmed, Kyung-Joon Park and Yongsoon Eun
Sensors 2017, 17(10), 2212; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17102212 - 26 Sep 2017
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4996
Abstract
Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network (UASN) comes with intrinsic constraints because it is deployed in the aquatic environment and uses the acoustic signals to communicate. The examples of those constraints are long propagation delay, very limited bandwidth, high energy cost for transmission, very high [...] Read more.
Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network (UASN) comes with intrinsic constraints because it is deployed in the aquatic environment and uses the acoustic signals to communicate. The examples of those constraints are long propagation delay, very limited bandwidth, high energy cost for transmission, very high signal attenuation, costly deployment and battery replacement, and so forth. Therefore, the routing schemes for UASN must take into account those characteristics to achieve energy fairness, avoid energy holes, and improve the network lifetime. The depth based forwarding schemes in literature use node’s depth information to forward data towards the sink. They minimize the data packet duplication by employing the holding time strategy. However, to avoid void holes in the network, they use two hop node proximity information. In this paper, we propose the Energy and Depth variance-based Opportunistic Void avoidance (EDOVE) scheme to gain energy balancing and void avoidance in the network. EDOVE considers not only the depth parameter, but also the normalized residual energy of the one-hop nodes and the normalized depth variance of the second hop neighbors. Hence, it avoids the void regions as well as balances the network energy and increases the network lifetime. The simulation results show that the EDOVE gains more than 15 % packet delivery ratio, propagates 50 % less copies of data packet, consumes less energy, and has more lifetime than the state of the art forwarding schemes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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7740 KiB  
Article
Probability-Based Recognition Framework for Underwater Landmarks Using Sonar Images †
by Yeongjun Lee, Jinwoo Choi, Nak Yong Ko and Hyun-Taek Choi
Sensors 2017, 17(9), 1953; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17091953 - 24 Aug 2017
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4566
Abstract
This paper proposes a probability-based framework for recognizing underwater landmarks using sonar images. Current recognition methods use a single image, which does not provide reliable results because of weaknesses of the sonar image such as unstable acoustic source, many speckle noises, low resolution [...] Read more.
This paper proposes a probability-based framework for recognizing underwater landmarks using sonar images. Current recognition methods use a single image, which does not provide reliable results because of weaknesses of the sonar image such as unstable acoustic source, many speckle noises, low resolution images, single channel image, and so on. However, using consecutive sonar images, if the status—i.e., the existence and identity (or name)—of an object is continuously evaluated by a stochastic method, the result of the recognition method is available for calculating the uncertainty, and it is more suitable for various applications. Our proposed framework consists of three steps: (1) candidate selection, (2) continuity evaluation, and (3) Bayesian feature estimation. Two probability methods—particle filtering and Bayesian feature estimation—are used to repeatedly estimate the continuity and feature of objects in consecutive images. Thus, the status of the object is repeatedly predicted and updated by a stochastic method. Furthermore, we develop an artificial landmark to increase detectability by an imaging sonar, which we apply to the characteristics of acoustic waves, such as instability and reflection depending on the roughness of the reflector surface. The proposed method is verified by conducting basin experiments, and the results are presented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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1144 KiB  
Article
A Novel Cross-Layer Routing Protocol Based on Network Coding for Underwater Sensor Networks
by Hao Wang, Shilian Wang, Renfei Bu and Eryang Zhang
Sensors 2017, 17(8), 1821; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17081821 - 08 Aug 2017
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 7710
Abstract
Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) have attracted increasing attention in recent years because of their numerous applications in ocean monitoring, resource discovery and tactical surveillance. However, the design of reliable and efficient transmission and routing protocols is a challenge due to the low [...] Read more.
Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) have attracted increasing attention in recent years because of their numerous applications in ocean monitoring, resource discovery and tactical surveillance. However, the design of reliable and efficient transmission and routing protocols is a challenge due to the low acoustic propagation speed and complex channel environment in UWSNs. In this paper, we propose a novel cross-layer routing protocol based on network coding (NCRP) for UWSNs, which utilizes network coding and cross-layer design to greedily forward data packets to sink nodes efficiently. The proposed NCRP takes full advantages of multicast transmission and decode packets jointly with encoded packets received from multiple potential nodes in the entire network. The transmission power is optimized in our design to extend the life cycle of the network. Moreover, we design a real-time routing maintenance protocol to update the route when detecting inefficient relay nodes. Substantial simulations in underwater environment by Network Simulator 3 (NS-3) show that NCRP significantly improves the network performance in terms of energy consumption, end-to-end delay and packet delivery ratio compared with other routing protocols for UWSNs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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3220 KiB  
Article
Monocular Vision-Based Underwater Object Detection
by Zhe Chen, Zhen Zhang, Fengzhao Dai, Yang Bu and Huibin Wang
Sensors 2017, 17(8), 1784; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17081784 - 03 Aug 2017
Cited by 54 | Viewed by 8569
Abstract
In this paper, we propose an underwater object detection method using monocular vision sensors. In addition to commonly used visual features such as color and intensity, we investigate the potential of underwater object detection using light transmission information. The global contrast of various [...] Read more.
In this paper, we propose an underwater object detection method using monocular vision sensors. In addition to commonly used visual features such as color and intensity, we investigate the potential of underwater object detection using light transmission information. The global contrast of various features is used to initially identify the region of interest (ROI), which is then filtered by the image segmentation method, producing the final underwater object detection results. We test the performance of our method with diverse underwater datasets. Samples of the datasets are acquired by a monocular camera with different qualities (such as resolution and focal length) and setups (viewing distance, viewing angle, and optical environment). It is demonstrated that our ROI detection method is necessary and can largely remove the background noise and significantly increase the accuracy of our underwater object detection method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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533 KiB  
Article
Two Hop Adaptive Vector Based Quality Forwarding for Void Hole Avoidance in Underwater WSNs
by Nadeem Javaid, Farwa Ahmed, Zahid Wadud, Nabil Alrajeh, Mohamad Souheil Alabed and Manzoor Ilahi
Sensors 2017, 17(8), 1762; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17081762 - 01 Aug 2017
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4014
Abstract
Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) facilitate a wide range of aquatic applications in various domains. However, the harsh underwater environment poses challenges like low bandwidth, long propagation delay, high bit error rate, high deployment cost, irregular topological structure, etc. Node mobility and the [...] Read more.
Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) facilitate a wide range of aquatic applications in various domains. However, the harsh underwater environment poses challenges like low bandwidth, long propagation delay, high bit error rate, high deployment cost, irregular topological structure, etc. Node mobility and the uneven distribution of sensor nodes create void holes in UWSNs. Void hole creation has become a critical issue in UWSNs, as it severely affects the network performance. Avoiding void hole creation benefits better coverage over an area, less energy consumption in the network and high throughput. For this purpose, minimization of void hole probability particularly in local sparse regions is focused on in this paper. The two-hop adaptive hop by hop vector-based forwarding (2hop-AHH-VBF) protocol aims to avoid the void hole with the help of two-hop neighbor node information. The other protocol, quality forwarding adaptive hop by hop vector-based forwarding (QF-AHH-VBF), selects an optimal forwarder based on the composite priority function. QF-AHH-VBF improves network good-put because of optimal forwarder selection. QF-AHH-VBF aims to reduce void hole probability by optimally selecting next hop forwarders. To attain better network performance, mathematical problem formulation based on linear programming is performed. Simulation results show that by opting these mechanisms, significant reduction in end-to-end delay and better throughput are achieved in the network. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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3075 KiB  
Article
Cross Deployment Networking and Systematic Performance Analysis of Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks
by Zhengxian Wei, Min Song, Guisheng Yin, Hongbin Wang, Xuefei Ma and Houbing Song
Sensors 2017, 17(7), 1619; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17071619 - 12 Jul 2017
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3663
Abstract
Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) have become a new hot research area. However, due to the work dynamics and harsh ocean environment, how to obtain an UWSN with the best systematic performance while deploying as few sensor nodes as possible and setting up [...] Read more.
Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) have become a new hot research area. However, due to the work dynamics and harsh ocean environment, how to obtain an UWSN with the best systematic performance while deploying as few sensor nodes as possible and setting up self-adaptive networking is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. Consequently, sensor deployment, networking, and performance calculation of UWSNs are challenging issues, hence the study in this paper centers on this topic and three relevant methods and models are put forward. Firstly, the normal body-centered cubic lattice to cross body-centered cubic lattice (CBCL) has been improved, and a deployment process and topology generation method are built. Then most importantly, a cross deployment networking method (CDNM) for UWSNs suitable for the underwater environment is proposed. Furthermore, a systematic quar-performance calculation model (SQPCM) is proposed from an integrated perspective, in which the systematic performance of a UWSN includes coverage, connectivity, durability and rapid-reactivity. Besides, measurement models are established based on the relationship between systematic performance and influencing parameters. Finally, the influencing parameters are divided into three types, namely, constraint parameters, device performance and networking parameters. Based on these, a networking parameters adjustment method (NPAM) for optimized systematic performance of UWSNs has been presented. The simulation results demonstrate that the approach proposed in this paper is feasible and efficient in networking and performance calculation of UWSNs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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2577 KiB  
Article
A Noise Removal Method for Uniform Circular Arrays in Complex Underwater Noise Environments with Low SNR
by Huijun Xia, Kunde Yang, Yuanliang Ma, Yong Wang and Yaxiong Liu
Sensors 2017, 17(6), 1345; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17061345 - 09 Jun 2017
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3789
Abstract
Generally, many beamforming methods are derived under the assumption of white noise. In practice, the actual underwater ambient noise is complex. As a result, the noise removal capacity of the beamforming method may be deteriorated considerably. Furthermore, in underwater environment with extremely low [...] Read more.
Generally, many beamforming methods are derived under the assumption of white noise. In practice, the actual underwater ambient noise is complex. As a result, the noise removal capacity of the beamforming method may be deteriorated considerably. Furthermore, in underwater environment with extremely low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the performances of the beamforming method may be deteriorated. To tackle these problems, a noise removal method for uniform circular array (UCA) is proposed to remove the received noise and improve the SNR in complex noise environments with low SNR. First, the symmetrical noise sources are defined and the spatial correlation of the symmetrical noise sources is calculated. Then, based on the preceding results, the noise covariance matrix is decomposed into symmetrical and asymmetrical components. Analysis indicates that the symmetrical component only affect the real part of the noise covariance matrix. Consequently, the delay-and-sum (DAS) beamforming is performed by using the imaginary part of the covariance matrix to remove the symmetrical component. However, the noise removal method causes two problems. First, the proposed method produces a false target. Second, the proposed method would seriously suppress the signal when it is located in some directions. To solve the first problem, two methods to reconstruct the signal covariance matrix are presented: based on the estimation of signal variance and based on the constrained optimization algorithm. To solve the second problem, we can design the array configuration and select the suitable working frequency. Theoretical analysis and experimental results are included to demonstrate that the proposed methods are particularly effective in complex noise environments with low SNR. The proposed method can be extended to any array. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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1858 KiB  
Article
A Double Rate Localization Algorithm with One Anchor for Multi-Hop Underwater Acoustic Networks
by Jingjie Gao, Xiaohong Shen, Ruiqin Zhao, Haodi Mei and Haiyan Wang
Sensors 2017, 17(5), 984; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17050984 - 28 Apr 2017
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4145
Abstract
Localization is a basic issue for underwater acoustic networks (UANs). Currently, most localization algorithms only perform well in one-hop networks or need more anchors which are not suitable for the underwater environment. In this paper, we proposed a double rate localization algorithm with [...] Read more.
Localization is a basic issue for underwater acoustic networks (UANs). Currently, most localization algorithms only perform well in one-hop networks or need more anchors which are not suitable for the underwater environment. In this paper, we proposed a double rate localization algorithm with one anchor for multi-hop underwater acoustic networks (DRL). The algorithm firstly presents a double rate scheme which separates the localization procedure into two modes to increase the ranging accuracy in multi-hop UANs while maintaining the transmission rate. Then an optimal selection scheme of reference nodes was proposed to reduce the influence of references’ topology on localization performance. The proposed DRL algorithm can be used in the multi-hop UANs to increase the localization accuracy and reduce the usage of anchor nodes. The simulation and experimental results demonstrated that the proposed DRL algorithm has a better localization performance than the previous algorithms in many aspects such as accuracy and communication cost, and is more suitable to the underwater environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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3256 KiB  
Article
An Artificial Measurements-Based Adaptive Filter for Energy-Efficient Target Tracking via Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks
by Huayan Chen, Senlin Zhang, Meiqin Liu and Qunfei Zhang
Sensors 2017, 17(5), 971; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17050971 - 27 Apr 2017
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4574
Abstract
We study the problem of energy-efficient target tracking in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs). Since sensors of UWSNs are battery-powered, it is impracticable to replace the batteries when exhausted. This means that the battery life affects the lifetime of the whole network. In [...] Read more.
We study the problem of energy-efficient target tracking in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs). Since sensors of UWSNs are battery-powered, it is impracticable to replace the batteries when exhausted. This means that the battery life affects the lifetime of the whole network. In order to extend the network lifetime, it is worth reducing the energy consumption on the premise of sufficient tracking accuracy. This paper proposes an energy-efficient filter that implements the tradeoff between communication cost and tracking accuracy. Under the distributed fusion framework, local sensors should not send their weak information to the fusion center if their measurement residuals are smaller than the pre-given threshold. In order to guarantee the target tracking accuracy, artificial measurements are generated to compensate for those unsent real measurements. Then, an adaptive scheme is derived to take full advantages of the artificial measurements-based filter in terms of energy-efficiency. Furthermore, a computationally efficient optimal sensor selection scheme is proposed to improve tracking accuracy on the premise of employing the same number of sensors. Simulation demonstrates that our scheme has superior advantages in the tradeoff between communication cost and tracking accuracy. It saves much energy while loosing little tracking accuracy or improves tracking performance with less additional energy cost. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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603 KiB  
Article
Energy-Efficient Channel Coding Strategy for Underwater Acoustic Networks
by Grasielli Barreto, Daniel H. Simão, Marcelo E. Pellenz, Richard D. Souza, Edgard Jamhour, Manoel C. Penna, Glauber Brante and Bruno S. Chang
Sensors 2017, 17(4), 728; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17040728 - 31 Mar 2017
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4531
Abstract
Underwater acoustic networks (UAN) allow for efficiently exploiting and monitoring the sub-aquatic environment. These networks are characterized by long propagation delays, error-prone channels and half-duplex communication. In this paper, we address the problem of energy-efficient communication through the use of optimized channel coding [...] Read more.
Underwater acoustic networks (UAN) allow for efficiently exploiting and monitoring the sub-aquatic environment. These networks are characterized by long propagation delays, error-prone channels and half-duplex communication. In this paper, we address the problem of energy-efficient communication through the use of optimized channel coding parameters. We consider a two-layer encoding scheme employing forward error correction (FEC) codes and fountain codes (FC) for UAN scenarios without feedback channels. We model and evaluate the energy consumption of different channel coding schemes for a K-distributed multipath channel. The parameters of the FEC encoding layer are optimized by selecting the optimal error correction capability and the code block size. The results show the best parameter choice as a function of the link distance and received signal-to-noise ratio. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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3095 KiB  
Article
A Two-Phase Time Synchronization-Free Localization Algorithm for Underwater Sensor Networks
by Junhai Luo and Liying Fan
Sensors 2017, 17(4), 726; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17040726 - 30 Mar 2017
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 4780
Abstract
Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs) can enable a broad range of applications such as resource monitoring, disaster prevention, and navigation-assistance. Sensor nodes location in UWSNs is an especially relevant topic. Global Positioning System (GPS) information is not suitable for use in UWSNs because of [...] Read more.
Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs) can enable a broad range of applications such as resource monitoring, disaster prevention, and navigation-assistance. Sensor nodes location in UWSNs is an especially relevant topic. Global Positioning System (GPS) information is not suitable for use in UWSNs because of the underwater propagation problems. Hence, some localization algorithms based on the precise time synchronization between sensor nodes that have been proposed for UWSNs are not feasible. In this paper, we propose a localization algorithm called Two-Phase Time Synchronization-Free Localization Algorithm (TP-TSFLA). TP-TSFLA contains two phases, namely, range-based estimation phase and range-free evaluation phase. In the first phase, we address a time synchronization-free localization scheme based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to obtain the coordinates of the unknown sensor nodes. In the second phase, we propose a Circle-based Range-Free Localization Algorithm (CRFLA) to locate the unlocalized sensor nodes which cannot obtain the location information through the first phase. In the second phase, sensor nodes which are localized in the first phase act as the new anchor nodes to help realize localization. Hence, in this algorithm, we use a small number of mobile beacons to help obtain the location information without any other anchor nodes. Besides, to improve the precision of the range-free method, an extension of CRFLA achieved by designing a coordinate adjustment scheme is updated. The simulation results show that TP-TSFLA can achieve a relative high localization ratio without time synchronization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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1942 KiB  
Article
Node Self-Deployment Algorithm Based on Pigeon Swarm Optimization for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks
by Shanen Yu, Yiming Xu, Peng Jiang, Feng Wu and Huan Xu
Sensors 2017, 17(4), 674; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17040674 - 24 Mar 2017
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4266
Abstract
At present, free-to-move node self-deployment algorithms aim at event coverage and cannot improve network coverage under the premise of considering network connectivity, network reliability and network deployment energy consumption. Thus, this study proposes pigeon-based self-deployment algorithm (PSA) for underwater wireless sensor networks to [...] Read more.
At present, free-to-move node self-deployment algorithms aim at event coverage and cannot improve network coverage under the premise of considering network connectivity, network reliability and network deployment energy consumption. Thus, this study proposes pigeon-based self-deployment algorithm (PSA) for underwater wireless sensor networks to overcome the limitations of these existing algorithms. In PSA, the sink node first finds its one-hop nodes and maximizes the network coverage in its one-hop region. The one-hop nodes subsequently divide the network into layers and cluster in each layer. Each cluster head node constructs a connected path to the sink node to guarantee network connectivity. Finally, the cluster head node regards the ratio of the movement distance of the node to the change in the coverage redundancy ratio as the target function and employs pigeon swarm optimization to determine the positions of the nodes. Simulation results show that PSA improves both network connectivity and network reliability, decreases network deployment energy consumption, and increases network coverage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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558 KiB  
Article
Cooperative Position Aware Mobility Pattern of AUVs for Avoiding Void Zones in Underwater WSNs
by Nadeem Javaid, Mudassir Ejaz, Wadood Abdul, Atif Alamri, Ahmad Almogren, Iftikhar Azim Niaz and Nadra Guizani
Sensors 2017, 17(3), 580; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17030580 - 13 Mar 2017
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4885
Abstract
In this paper, we propose two schemes; position-aware mobility pattern (PAMP) and cooperative PAMP (Co PAMP). The first one is an optimization scheme that avoids void hole occurrence and minimizes the uncertainty in the position estimation of glider’s. The second one is a [...] Read more.
In this paper, we propose two schemes; position-aware mobility pattern (PAMP) and cooperative PAMP (Co PAMP). The first one is an optimization scheme that avoids void hole occurrence and minimizes the uncertainty in the position estimation of glider’s. The second one is a cooperative routing scheme that reduces the packet drop ratio by using the relay cooperation. Both techniques use gliders that stay at sojourn positions for a predefined time, at sojourn position self-confidence (s-confidence) and neighbor-confidence (n-confidence) regions that are estimated for balanced energy consumption. The transmission power of a glider is adjusted according to those confidence regions. Simulation results show that our proposed schemes outperform the compared existing one in terms of packet delivery ratio, void zones and energy consumption. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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593 KiB  
Article
Probabilistic Neighborhood-Based Data Collection Algorithms for 3D Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks
by Guangjie Han, Shanshan Li, Chunsheng Zhu, Jinfang Jiang and Wenbo Zhang
Sensors 2017, 17(2), 316; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17020316 - 08 Feb 2017
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4535
Abstract
Marine environmental monitoring provides crucial information and support for the exploitation, utilization, and protection of marine resources. With the rapid development of information technology, the development of three-dimensional underwater acoustic sensor networks (3D UASNs) provides a novel strategy to acquire marine environment information [...] Read more.
Marine environmental monitoring provides crucial information and support for the exploitation, utilization, and protection of marine resources. With the rapid development of information technology, the development of three-dimensional underwater acoustic sensor networks (3D UASNs) provides a novel strategy to acquire marine environment information conveniently, efficiently and accurately. However, the specific propagation effects of acoustic communication channel lead to decreased successful information delivery probability with increased distance. Therefore, we investigate two probabilistic neighborhood-based data collection algorithms for 3D UASNs which are based on a probabilistic acoustic communication model instead of the traditional deterministic acoustic communication model. An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is employed to traverse along the designed path to collect data from neighborhoods. For 3D UASNs without prior deployment knowledge, partitioning the network into grids can allow the AUV to visit the central location of each grid for data collection. For 3D UASNs in which the deployment knowledge is known in advance, the AUV only needs to visit several selected locations by constructing a minimum probabilistic neighborhood covering set to reduce data latency. Otherwise, by increasing the transmission rounds, our proposed algorithms can provide a tradeoff between data collection latency and information gain. These algorithms are compared with basic Nearest-neighbor Heuristic algorithm via simulations. Simulation analyses show that our proposed algorithms can efficiently reduce the average data collection completion time, corresponding to a decrease of data latency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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Review

Jump to: Research, Other

29 pages, 3796 KiB  
Review
Game Theory-Based Cooperation for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks: Taxonomy, Review, Research Challenges and Directions
by Dalhatu Muhammed, Mohammad Hossein Anisi, Mahdi Zareei, Cesar Vargas-Rosales and Anwar Khan
Sensors 2018, 18(2), 425; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18020425 - 01 Feb 2018
Cited by 35 | Viewed by 5612
Abstract
Exploring and monitoring the underwater world using underwater sensors is drawing a lot of attention these days. In this field cooperation between acoustic sensor nodes has been a critical problem due to the challenging features such as acoustic channel failure (sound signal), long [...] Read more.
Exploring and monitoring the underwater world using underwater sensors is drawing a lot of attention these days. In this field cooperation between acoustic sensor nodes has been a critical problem due to the challenging features such as acoustic channel failure (sound signal), long propagation delay of acoustic signal, limited bandwidth and loss of connectivity. There are several proposed methods to improve cooperation between the nodes by incorporating information/game theory in the node’s cooperation. However, there is a need to classify the existing works and demonstrate their performance in addressing the cooperation issue. In this paper, we have conducted a review to investigate various factors affecting cooperation in underwater acoustic sensor networks. We study various cooperation techniques used for underwater acoustic sensor networks from different perspectives, with a concentration on communication reliability, energy consumption, and security and present a taxonomy for underwater cooperation. Moreover, we further review how the game theory can be applied to make the nodes cooperate with each other. We further analyze different cooperative game methods, where their performance on different metrics is compared. Finally, open issues and future research direction in underwater acoustic sensor networks are highlighted. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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25 pages, 1576 KiB  
Review
Research on Localization Algorithms Based on Acoustic Communication for Underwater Sensor Networks
by Junhai Luo, Liying Fan, Shan Wu and Xueting Yan
Sensors 2018, 18(1), 67; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18010067 - 03 Jan 2018
Cited by 57 | Viewed by 6623
Abstract
The water source, as a significant body of the earth, with a high value, serves as a hot topic to study Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs). Various applications can be realized based on UWSNs. Our paper mainly concentrates on the localization algorithms based on [...] Read more.
The water source, as a significant body of the earth, with a high value, serves as a hot topic to study Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs). Various applications can be realized based on UWSNs. Our paper mainly concentrates on the localization algorithms based on the acoustic communication for UWSNs. An in-depth survey of localization algorithms is provided for UWSNs. We first introduce the acoustic communication, network architecture, and routing technique in UWSNs. The localization algorithms are classified into five aspects, namely, computation algorithm, spatial coverage, range measurement, the state of the nodes and communication between nodes that are different from all other survey papers. Moreover, we collect a lot of pioneering papers, and a comprehensive comparison is made. In addition, some challenges and open issues are raised in our paper. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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37 pages, 3526 KiB  
Review
Underwater Acoustic Target Tracking: A Review
by Junhai Luo, Ying Han and Liying Fan
Sensors 2018, 18(1), 112; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18010112 - 02 Jan 2018
Cited by 102 | Viewed by 10994
Abstract
Advances in acoustic technology and instrumentation now make it possible to explore marine resources. As a significant component of ocean exploration, underwater acoustic target tracking has aroused wide attention both in military and civil fields. Due to the complexity of the marine environment, [...] Read more.
Advances in acoustic technology and instrumentation now make it possible to explore marine resources. As a significant component of ocean exploration, underwater acoustic target tracking has aroused wide attention both in military and civil fields. Due to the complexity of the marine environment, numerous techniques have been proposed to obtain better tracking performance. In this paper, we survey over 100 papers ranging from innovative papers to the state-of-the-art in this field to present underwater tracking technologies. Not only the related knowledge of acoustic tracking instrument and tracking progress is clarified in detail, but also a novel taxonomy method is proposed. In this paper, algorithms for underwater acoustic target tracking are classified based on the methods used as: (1) instrument-assisted methods; (2) mode-based methods; (3) tracking optimization methods. These algorithms are compared and analyzed in the aspect of dimensions, numbers, and maneuvering of the tracking target, which is different from other survey papers. Meanwhile, challenges, countermeasures, and lessons learned are illustrated in this paper. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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Other

Jump to: Research, Review

4317 KiB  
Letter
Power Allocation Scheme for Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access in Underwater Acoustic Communications
by Jinyong Cheon and Ho-Shin Cho
Sensors 2017, 17(11), 2465; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s17112465 - 27 Oct 2017
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 6694
Abstract
In this paper, we propose a power allocation scheme for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UWASNs). The existing terrestrial sum-rate maximization (SRM) power allocation scheme suffers from the degradation of the overall sum-rate in UWASNs due to wasteful resource [...] Read more.
In this paper, we propose a power allocation scheme for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UWASNs). The existing terrestrial sum-rate maximization (SRM) power allocation scheme suffers from the degradation of the overall sum-rate in UWASNs due to wasteful resource created by unequal transmission times between each transmission path. To address this issue, we propose the equal transmission times (ETT) power allocation scheme, which can prevent wasteful resource generation by guaranteeing equal transmission times between each transmission path. ETT considers the number of packets waiting for transmission in the sender’s buffer for creating equal transmission times. Numerical results show that the proposed ETT outperforms SRM in terms of the overall sum-rate, while having nearly identical maximum sum-rate to the SRMs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances and Challenges in Underwater Sensor Networks)
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