CLORDFS-Optimized Routing and Data Forwarding Scheme for Underwater Acoustic Wireless Sensor Networks using Cross-Layer Parameters

Abstract

Underwater Acoustic Wireless Sensor Networks (UAWSN) is a collection of sensor nodes that are strategically placed at different depths under water to monitor the activities of interest. In contrast to Terrestrial Wireless Sensor Networks (TWSN), a UAWSN is constrained by several challenges like limited bandwidth, multipath propagation, path-loss, noise, Doppler spread, etc. Also, other parameters like salinity, depth and pressure influence the propagation speed and in turn the achieved throughput. Most of the existing works in this direction focus on designing new medium access control protocols to minimize collisions and maximize bandwidth utilization. Other existing routing and data forwarding protocols use different metrics to maximize network objectives like network lifetime, increase network throughput, minimize energy drain, etc. In this paper, we propose a routing and data forwarding mechanism using link bandwidth by considering path-loss and multipath propagation effects. These crosslayer metrics allow us to select high-capacity links increasing overall network throughput. In addition, we propose different optimizations to the data forwarding and routing mechanisms to save energy and increase lifetime of the network. The simulation results show that the proposed mechanism improves 6% packet delivery ratio, 10% throughput, and minimizes energy consumption in comparison to state-of the-art protocol CLOR.