Distance based reliable and energy efficient (DREE) routing protocol for underwater acoustic sensor networks

Abstract

The distinctive features of Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (UW-ASN) such as high propagation delay, asymmetric channels, high errors rates and limited bandwidth cause significant issues due to the use of acoustic medium as a method of communication. Therefore, designing an efficient underwater protocol that make efficient use of available battery resources and provides reliability in unreliable acoustic environment is a challenging task. In this paper, we therefore present a distance based reliable and energy efficient routing protocol (DREE). The contribution in this routing protocol is twofold 1) DREE actually takes in to account physical distance unlike similar protocol R-ERP ²R where physical distance has not been utilized 2) DREE utilizes Fuzzy logic based link Quality Estimator (F-LQE) which has not been put on the test before in underwater networks. Moreover, DREE extends network lifetime not only by providing energy balancing but by reducing number of transmissions required to deliver a packet successfully. Experiments performed in NS2 simulator prove that DREE contributes to improve results in comparison with R-ERP ²R which is the similar and only distance based reliable protocol present in literature and well known depth based routing protocol DBR.