Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing · 2016 · 38 citations · 22 references
EngineeringOcean EngineeringAcousticsComputer NetworksUnderwater AcousticsRoutingRouting AlgorithmsSensor NetworksUnderwater Acoustic CommunicationUnderwater CommunicationWireless Sensor NetworksCommunication RangeDeploymentEnergy ConsumptionLoad-balanced RoutingNetwork LifetimeSensor NodesUnderwater Acoustic SensorsUnderwater Sensor Networks
Underwater acoustic sensor networks are increasingly studied for ocean monitoring, but their limited energy budgets make energy efficiency a critical challenge. This study aims to eliminate energy holes in UW‑ASNs by adapting node transmission ranges to the underwater channel. By proving that adjusting communication ranges can evenly distribute transmission load, the authors propose a balanced routing strategy and deployment pattern that assigns load weights to next hops for fair energy consumption. The approach successfully removes energy holes, extends network lifetime, and represents the first solution to this problem in UW‑ASNs. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Abstract Interest in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UW‐ASNs) has rapidly increased with the desire to control the large portion of the world covered by oceans. Energy efficiency is one of the major concerns in UW‐ASNs due to the limited energy budget of the underwater sensor nodes. In this paper, we tackle the problem of energy holes in UW‐ASNs while taking into consideration the unique characteristics of the underwater channel. We prove that we can evenly distribute the transmission load among sensor nodes provided that sensors adjust their communication range when they send or forward the periodically generated data. In particular, we propose a balanced routing strategy along with the associated deployment pattern that meticulously determines the load weight for each possible next hop that leads to fair energy consumption among all underwater sensors. Consequently, the energy holes problem is overcome, and hence, the network lifetime is improved. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that addresses the energy hole problem in UW‐ASNs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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