Modeling and simulation of multi-hop time synchronization for underwater acoustic networks based on OPNET

Abstract

Time synchronization is important for Underwater Acoustic Networks (UANs) to achieve precise scheduling, localization and low energy consumption. Although time synchronization for UANs has been studied for years, corresponding simulation has not been researched in detail. UANs simulation faces some special challenges, such as the accurate channel model and the complex state machine of UANs synchronization algorithm. This paper provides details of the implementation of a multi-hop time synchronization scheme for Underwater Acoustic Networks (MSUAN) based on OPNET. By modifying the pipeline stages of Propdel-Stage, Power-Stage and Bkgnoise-Stage, we make our scheme applicable for underwater channel, and design a project to evaluate synchronization performance of MSUAN. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.