Abstract
Abstract Reliable data transfer and energy efficiency are the essential considerations for network performance in resource-constrained underwater environments. One of the efficient approaches for data routing in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) is clustering, in which the data packets are transferred from sensor nodes to the cluster head (CH). Data packets are then forwarded to a sink node in a single or multiple hops manners, which can possibly increase energy depletion of the CH as compared to other nodes. While several mechanisms have been proposed for cluster formation and CH selection to ensure efficient delivery of data packets, less attention has been given to massive data communication processes with sink node. As such, failure in communicating nodes would lead to a significant network void-holes problem. Considering the limited energy resources of nodes in UWSNs along with the heavy load of CHs in the routing process, this paper proposes a void-holes aware and reliable data forwarding strategy (VHARD-FS) in a proactive mode to control data packets delivery from CH nodes to the sink in UWSNs. In the proposed strategy, each CH node is aware of its neighbor’s performance ranking index to conduct a reliable packet transmission to the sink via the most energy-efficient route. Extensive simulation results indicate that the VHARD-FS outperforms existing routing approaches while comparing energy efficiency and network throughput. This study helps to effectively alleviate the resource limitations associated with UWSNs by extending network life and increasing service availability even in a harsh underwater environment.
Highlights
The recent progress in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) has drawn a great attention because of its extensive real-world applications, for instance marine data gathering, equipment monitoring, pollution monitoring, catastrophe monitoring and prevention, offshore exploration, underwater robotics, and marine military activities [1,2,3]
This study proposes a void-holes aware and reliable data forwarding strategy (VHARDFS) for UWSNs, focusing on next-hop node selection by covering all of the cluster head (CH) to deal with the multi-holes environment under varying depth in UWSNs
VHARD-FS deploys the sensor nodes in a cluster-based underwater environment; the sensor nodes in the monitoring area are organized to configure clusters and assign a CH to carry out the routing process
Summary
The recent progress in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) has drawn a great attention because of its extensive real-world applications, for instance marine data gathering, equipment monitoring, pollution monitoring, catastrophe monitoring and prevention, offshore exploration, underwater robotics, and marine military activities [1,2,3]. A repeating data transfer gradually exhausts the energy of intermediate nodes, and this process makes their lives shorter than other nodes and results in the loss of connection The failure of these bridges results in a disconnection between the CHs and sink, and this phenomenon is called the void-hole problem in sensor networks. When choosing the forwarder node, the selection of a routing path that is reliable with a high link quality should be taken into consideration [20,21] In this context, this study proposes a void-holes aware and reliable data forwarding strategy (VHARDFS) for UWSNs, focusing on next-hop node selection by covering all of the CHs to deal with the multi-holes environment under varying depth in UWSNs. Further to this, the present study addresses network stability by considering the node performance ranking index (Node-PRI) metrics, in which node status such as residual energy, node depth, and void-indicator are considered to identify whether the current forwarder is a void node or not. The conclusion of this paper and ideas for prospective research are presented in the last section
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