Abstract
This paper investigates the use of underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) for subsea asset monitoring. In particular, we focus on the use cases involving the deployment of networks with line topologies, e.g., for monitoring oil and gas pipelines. The Linear Transmit Delay Allocation MAC (LTDA-MAC) protocol facilitates efficient packet scheduling in linear UASNs without clock synchronization at the sensor nodes. It is based on the real-time optimization of a packet schedule for a given network deployment. In this paper, we present a novel greedy algorithm for real-time optimization of LTDA-MAC schedules. It produces collision-free schedules with significantly shorter frame duration, and is 2–3 orders of magnitude more computationally efficient than our previously proposed solution. Simulations of a subsea pipeline monitoring scenario show that, despite no clock synchronization, LTDA-MAC equipped with the proposed schedule optimization algorithm significantly outperforms Spatial TDMA.
Highlights
Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) are a key technology for monitoring the underwater environment, enabled by the recent developments in underwater acoustic modem technologies [1,2,3,4,5]
The purpose of this paper is to report on a significant further development on LTDA-Medium Access Control (MAC): a novel greedy optimization algorithm that produces better scheduling solutions and dramatically reduces the computational cost compared with our previous method based on global optimization via a Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)
The key part of the LTDA-MAC protocol is the real-time application of a heuristic optimization algorithm to produce a packet schedule with spatial spectrum reuse tailored to the given deployment scenario
Summary
Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) are a key technology for monitoring the underwater environment, enabled by the recent developments in underwater acoustic modem technologies [1,2,3,4,5]. Acoustic waves are the preferred communication medium underwater, since they can propagate significantly further than electromagnetic and optical waves. Acoustic communications are fundamentally limited by the slow sound propagation and low available bandwidth. These physical constraints present the need for Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols designed for UASNs. A major application area of UASNs is live monitoring of subsea oil and gas infrastructure, which may often involve sensor networks with line topologies, e.g., for leakage detection and corrosion monitoring in underwater pipelines [6,7]. In linear UASNs (LUASNs) the packets are routed via multiple hops between neighbouring nodes as shown in Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
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