Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs)

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Ocean Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2022) | Viewed by 17166

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Mathematics Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
Interests: Routing protocols in Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs); MAC protocols in UWSNs; localisation in UWSNs; Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs); operational research in marine engineering sciences and applications

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on all aspects related to Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs). Works related to different layers of UWSNs are welcome, such as the physical, routing, or MAC layer. Innovative aspects related to UWSNs applications will also be considered. Contributors are advised to submit papers that fit in one or more of the subjects indicated below. However, papers that are not directly related to these areas shall also be considered in cases of particular interest to this Special Issue.

  • Underwater sensor networks communication 
  • UWSNs routing protocols
  • UWSNs MAC protocols
  • Mobile data gathering using autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)
  • Underwater sensor localization and tracking
  • Underwater wireless networks theories, protocol designs and architecture
  • Internet of things for UWSNs
  • Underwater surveillance and monitoring
  • Energy harvesting and management in UWSNs
  • Study cases, real deployments of UWSNs
  • Security issues for UWSNs
  • Operational research in UWSNs
  • Reliability and scalability in UWSNs
  • Underwater sensor network architectures
  • Wired and wireless protocols for UWSNs

Dr. Seyed Mohammad Ghoreyshi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs)
  • Routing
  • Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)
  • Medium Access Control (MAC)
  • Localization systems
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • Energy harvesting
  • Reliability

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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25 pages, 12909 KiB  
Article
EE-UWSNs: A Joint Energy-Efficient MAC and Routing Protocol for Underwater Sensor Networks
by Ibtihal Ahmed Alablani and Mohammed Amer Arafah
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(4), 488; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10040488 - 01 Apr 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2253
Abstract
In Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs), the energy sources of sensor nodes are limited and difficult to recharge and solar energy cannot be used in that environment. The power issue is one of the most significant constraints in underwater sensor networks and energy balancing [...] Read more.
In Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs), the energy sources of sensor nodes are limited and difficult to recharge and solar energy cannot be used in that environment. The power issue is one of the most significant constraints in underwater sensor networks and energy balancing is essential to prolong the network lifetime. The MAC/routing protocols that are used in other types of networks may not be suitable for UWSNs due to their unique characteristics. This paper aims to overcome the energy problem by developing a new MAC/routing protocol for UWSNs called the Energy-Efficient protocol for UWSNs (EE-UWSNs). It is based on five principles to save sensor energy and to prolong the lifetime of UWSNs. These principles are using finite levels of power, applying the multi-hops transmission, narrowing the scope of transmission, applying inactivation mode, and balancing energy consumption. Using the AUVNetSim simulator, which is a Python project developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the proposed EE-UWSNs protocol was compared with well-known protocols. Simulation results proved that the proposed protocol reduces the average energy consumption of sensors by up to 68.49% compared with the other protocols. Furthermore, the average number of collisions and the end-to-end delay are enhanced. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs))
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17 pages, 566 KiB  
Article
A Tracking Algorithm for Sparse and Dynamic Underwater Sensor Networks
by Haiming Liu, Bo Xu and Bin Liu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(3), 337; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10030337 - 28 Feb 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1666
Abstract
An underwater sensor network (UWSN) has sparse and dynamic characteristics. In sparse and dynamic UWSNs, the traditional particle filter based on multi-rate consensus/fusion (CF/DPF) has the problems of a slow convergence rate and low filtering accuracy. To solve these problems, a tracking algorithm [...] Read more.
An underwater sensor network (UWSN) has sparse and dynamic characteristics. In sparse and dynamic UWSNs, the traditional particle filter based on multi-rate consensus/fusion (CF/DPF) has the problems of a slow convergence rate and low filtering accuracy. To solve these problems, a tracking algorithm for sparse and dynamic UWSNs based on particle filter (TASD) is proposed. Firstly, the estimation results of a local particle filter are processed by a weighted average consensus filter (WACF). In this way, the reliability difference of state estimation between nodes in sparse and dynamic UWSN is reasonably eliminated. Secondly, a delayed update mechanism (DUM) is added to WACF, which effectively solves the problem of time synchronization between the two particle filters. Thirdly, under the condition of limited communication energy consumption, an alternating random scheme (ARS) is designed, which optimizes the mean square convergence rate of the fusion particle filter. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can be applied to maneuvering target tracking in sparse and dynamic UWSN effectively. Compared with the traditional method, it has higher tracking accuracy and faster convergence speed. The average estimation error of TASD is 91.3% lower than that of CF/DPF, and the weighted consensus tracking error of TASD is reduced by 85.6% compared with CF/DPF. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs))
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21 pages, 1517 KiB  
Article
An Automatic Search and Energy-Saving Continuous Tracking Algorithm for Underwater Targets Based on Prediction and Neural Network
by Haiming Liu, Bo Xu and Bin Liu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(2), 283; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10020283 - 18 Feb 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1506
Abstract
Underwater target search and tracking has become a technical hotspot in underwater sensor networks (UWSNs). Unfortunately, the complex and changeable marine environment creates many obstacles for localization and tracking. This paper proposes an automatic search and energy-saving continuous tracking algorithm for underwater targets [...] Read more.
Underwater target search and tracking has become a technical hotspot in underwater sensor networks (UWSNs). Unfortunately, the complex and changeable marine environment creates many obstacles for localization and tracking. This paper proposes an automatic search and energy-saving continuous tracking algorithm for underwater targets based on prediction and neural network (ST-BPN). Firstly, the network contains active sensor nodes that can transmit detection signal. When analyzing the reflected signal spectrum, a modified convolutional neural network M-CNN is built to search the target. Then, based on the relationship between propagation delay and target location, a localization algorithm which can resist the influence of clock asynchrony LA-AIC is designed. Thirdly, a scheme based on consensus filtering TS-PSMCF is used to track the target. It is worth mentioning that a predictive switching mechanism, PSM, is added to the tracking process to adjust the working state of nodes. Simulation results show that the recognition accuracy of M-CNN is as high as 99.7%, the location accuracy of LA-AIC is 92.3% higher than that of traditional methods, and the tracking error of TS-PSMCF is kept between 0 m and 5 m. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs))
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18 pages, 3808 KiB  
Article
An Efficient Void Aware Framework for Enabling Internet of Underwater Things
by Ahmad M. Khasawneh, Maryam Altalhi, Arvind Kumar, Geetika Aggarwal, Omprakash Kaiwartya, Ala’ Khalifeh, Mahmoud Ahmad Al-Khasawneh and Ala Abdulsalam Alarood
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(11), 1219; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9111219 - 04 Nov 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 1898
Abstract
The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) is an emerging area in marine science and engineering. It has witnessed significant research and development attention from both academia and industries due to its growing underwater use cases in oceanographic data collection, pollution monitoring, seismic monitoring, [...] Read more.
The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) is an emerging area in marine science and engineering. It has witnessed significant research and development attention from both academia and industries due to its growing underwater use cases in oceanographic data collection, pollution monitoring, seismic monitoring, tactical surveillance, and assisted navigation for waterway transport. Information dissemination in the underwater network environment is very critical considering network dynamism, unattainable nodes, and limited resources of the tiny IoUT devices. Existing techniques are majorly based on location-centric beacon messages, which results in higher energy consumption, and wastage of computing resources in tiny IoUT devices. Towards this end, this paper presents an efficient void aware (EVA) framework for information dissemination in IoUT environment. Network architecture is modeled considering potential void region identification in the underwater network environment. An efficient void aware (EVA) information dissemination framework is proposed focusing on detecting void network region, and intelligent void aware data forwarding. The comparative performance evaluation attests to the benefits of the proposed framework in terms of energy consumption, network lifetime, packet delivery ratio, and end-to-end delay for information dissemination in IoUT. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs))
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20 pages, 962 KiB  
Article
Energy-Efficient Collision Avoidance MAC Protocols for Underwater Sensor Networks: Survey and Challenges
by Faisal Abdulaziz Alfouzan
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(7), 741; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9070741 - 04 Jul 2021
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 3950
Abstract
The Medium Access Control (MAC) layer protocol is the most important part of any network, and is considered to be a fundamental protocol that aids in enhancing the performance of networks and communications. However, the MAC protocol’s design for underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) [...] Read more.
The Medium Access Control (MAC) layer protocol is the most important part of any network, and is considered to be a fundamental protocol that aids in enhancing the performance of networks and communications. However, the MAC protocol’s design for underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) has introduced various challenges. This is due to long underwater acoustic propagation delay, high mobility, low available bandwidth, and high error probability. These unique acoustic channel characteristics make contention-based MAC protocols significantly more expensive than other protocol contentions. Therefore, re-transmission and collisions should effectively be managed at the MAC layer to decrease the energy cost and to enhance the network’s throughput. Consequently, handshake-based and random access-based MAC protocols do not perform as efficiently as their achieved performance in terrestrial networks. To tackle this complicated problem, this paper surveys the current collision-free MAC protocols proposed in the literature for UWSNs. We first review the unique characteristic of underwater sensor networks and its negative impact on the MAC layer. It is then followed by a discussion about the problem definition, challenges, and features associated with the design of MAC protocols in UWANs. Afterwards, currently available collision-free MAC design strategies in UWSNs are classified and investigated. The advantages and disadvantages of each design strategy along with the recent advances are then presented. Finally, we present a qualitative comparison of these strategies and also discuss some possible future directions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs))
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Review

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29 pages, 4152 KiB  
Review
Full Duplex Physical and MAC Layer-Based Underwater Wireless Communication Systems and Protocols: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions
by Liu Songzuo, Basit Iqbal, Imran Ullah Khan, Niaz Ahmed, Gang Qiao and Feng Zhou
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(5), 468; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9050468 - 27 Apr 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3149
Abstract
Underwater wireless communication has gained a great deal of attention in the last couple of decades because of its applications in the military, industrial, and monitoring sectors. Despite the extreme physical and MAC layer difficulties, acoustics are used for various applications among the [...] Read more.
Underwater wireless communication has gained a great deal of attention in the last couple of decades because of its applications in the military, industrial, and monitoring sectors. Despite the extreme physical and MAC layer difficulties, acoustics are used for various applications among the various modes of underwater communication technologies used. While significant research efforts have been made to address these issues, the bottleneck remains in achieving high bandwidth, high throughputs, and data rate. Researchers have begun to look into full duplex (FD) implementation to improve bandwidth efficiency and increase data rate and throughput. Users can send and receive data simultaneously over the FD links, maximizing bandwidth utilization and increasing throughput. As a result, we thoroughly reviewed various FD physical layered UWAC systems and MAC layered protocols for underwater communication. The various problems that the aforementioned systems and protocols have faced, as well as the solutions suggested in previous works to solve each problem, are also highlighted. Various metrics are used to compare the performance of various physical layered FD systems and FD MAC protocols. We also explore some of the open research questions in these FD-physical layered and MAC layered protocols, as well as future research directions. Based on ample information, we suggest a cross-layered architecture based on various IBFD-SI cancellations, DA-CSMA, and FD-MAC protocols. This review provides a broad view of the current FD physical and MAC layered protocols based on acoustic communication, as well as recommendations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs))
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