Simulation and visualization of acoustic underwater sensor networks using aqua-sim and aqua-3d: an evaluation

Abstract

Contrasting the Radio Frequency (RF) or Electro Magnetic (EM) wave based terrestrial network communication technologies, acoustic communication on Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs) add a unique set of challenges due their long propagation delays, low data rates, and high transmit power. Due to characteristic of basic acoustic nature and hence require an entire redesign in all the layer of network protocol stack. Most importantly, the current established network technology that were developed for conventional terrestrial wireless sensor networks (TWSNs) are not suitable for directly applying them in underwater scenarios. Due to this reason, the research in network technology of UWSNs has been underway to overcome the lack of available network technology in UWSNs. In this work, we are going to study some of the available simulators for simulating a UWSNs environment and enlighten the reasons for selecting Aqua-Sim and Aqua-3D for our underwater network simulations. In this research, the performance of the basic routing protocols in Aqua- Sim such as Underwater Flooding (UWFlooding), Vector- Based Forwarding (VBF), and Hop-by-Hop Vector-Based Forwarding Protocol (HH-VBF) is evaluated with the metrics packet delivery ratio (PDR), cumulative delay, throughput and energy consumption under dense network environment. The result of our study showed that VBF and HH-VBF are performed better in terms of PDR, cumulative delay and energy consumption, while UWFlooding is performed better in terms of cumulative delay.