Proceedings of the Fourth ACM International Workshop on UnderWater Networks
Protocol design issues in underwater acoustic networks
Computer Communications
Proceedings of the Sixth ACM International Workshop on Underwater Networks
Scheduling granularity in underwater acoustic networks
Proceedings of the Sixth ACM International Workshop on Underwater Networks
On the performance of unsynchronized distributed MAC protocols in deep water acoustic networks
Proceedings of the Sixth ACM International Workshop on Underwater Networks
Wireless Underwater Communications
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A low-cost and flexible underwater platform to promote experiments in UWSN research
Proceedings of the Seventh ACM International Conference on Underwater Networks and Systems
A JSW-based cooperative transmission scheme for underwater acoustic networks
Proceedings of the Seventh ACM International Conference on Underwater Networks and Systems
WASA'13 Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Wireless Algorithms, Systems, and Applications
A bidirectional TDMA protocol for underwater acoustic sensor networks
Proceedings of the Eighth ACM International Conference on Underwater Networks and Systems
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This paper introduces T-Lohi, a new class of distributed and energy-efficient media-access protocols (MAC) for underwater acoustic sensor networks (UWSN). MAC design for UWSN faces significant challenges. For example, acoustic communication suffers from latencies five orders-of-magnitude larger than radio communication, so a naive CSMA MAC would require very long listen time resulting in low throughput and poor energy efficiency. In this paper, we first identify unique characteristics in underwater networking that may affect all MACs, such as space-time uncertainty and deafness conditions. We then develop T-Lohi employing a novel tone-based contention resolution mechanism that exploits space-time uncertainty and high latency to detect collisions and count contenders, achieving good throughput across all offered loads. T-Lohi exploits a low-power wake-up receiver to significantly reduce energy consumption. We evaluate design choices and protocol performance through extensive simulation. Finally, we compare T-Lohi against a few canonical MAC protocols. The results show that the energy cost of packet transmission is within 3-9% of optimal, and that Lohi achieves good channel utilization, within 30% utilization of the theoretical maximum. We also show that Lohi is stable and fair under both low and very high offered loads. Finally, we compare Lohi with other alternatives, including TDMA, CSMA, and ALOHA. Except for TDMA under heavy load, Lohi provides the best utilization in all cases, and it is always the most energy efficient.