A novel routing protocol providing good transmission reliability in underwater sensor networks

TLDR

Underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) are emerging systems that face variable, high propagation delays and limited bandwidth, supporting applications such as oceanographic data collection, pollution monitoring, offshore exploration, and assisted navigation. The study aims to design a routing protocol that prioritizes reliable message transmission rather than merely reducing delay. To achieve this, the authors introduce the Location‑Aware Routing Protocol (LARP), which leverages node location information to guide packet forwarding. Simulations demonstrate that LARP achieves higher packet delivery ratios and lower normalized routing overhead compared to existing UWSN protocols, indicating its superior performance.

Abstract

As the network communications technology developing, a new type of networks has appeared in the daily life which is named underwater sensor networks (UWSNs). UWSNs are a class of emerging networks that experience variable and high propagation delays and limited available bandwidth. There are comprehensive applications in this area such as oceanographic data collection, pollution monitoring, offshore exploration, assisted navigation and so on. Due to the different environment under the ocean, routing protocols in UWSNs should be re-designed to fit for the surroundings. In particular, routing protocols in UWSNs should ensure the reliability of message transmission, not just decrease the delay. In this paper, we propose a novel routing protocol named Location-Aware Routing Protocol (LARP) for UWSNs, where the location information of nodes is used to help the transmission of the message. Simulation results show that the proposed LARP outperforms the existing routing protocols in terms of packet delivery ratio and normalized routing overhead. We expect LARP to be of greater value than other existing solutions in underwater environment.