Data collection, storage, and retrieval with an underwater sensor network

TLDR

The paper presents a novel underwater sensor network platform for long‑term monitoring of coral reefs and fisheries, detailing its hardware and software architecture. The network comprises static and mobile nodes that communicate point‑to‑point via a high‑speed optical system and broadcast acoustically, equipped with cameras, temperature, and pressure sensors, while mobile nodes perform data muling and maintenance tasks. Experimental results from pool, river, and ocean deployments demonstrate the effectiveness of the optical and acoustic protocols and show that mobile nodes can successfully perform data muling and maintenance.

Abstract

In this paper we present a novel platform for underwater sensor networks to be used for long-term monitoring of coral reefs and fisheries. The sensor network consists of static and mobile underwater sensor nodes. The nodes communicate point-to-point using a novel high-speed optical communication system integrated into the TinyOS stack, and they broadcast using an acoustic protocol integrated in the TinyOS stack. The nodes have a variety of sensing capabilities, including cameras, water temperature, and pressure. The mobile nodes can locate and hover above the static nodes for data muling, and they can perform network maintenance functions such as deployment, relocation, and recovery. In this paper we describe the hardware and software architecture of this underwater sensor network. We then describe the optical and acoustic networking protocols and present experimental networking and data collected in a pool, in rivers, and in the ocean. Finally, we describe our experiments with mobility for data muling in this network.