Interference avoidance routing for underwater wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Packets routing in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSN) is challenged by the interference generated during packets forwarding by sensor nodes. The lost packets result in wastage of nodes’ battery power in that their retransmission consumes additional power. In order to overcome this challenge, design of interference avoidance routing is one of the promising solutions. Such a routing ensures that the ultimate destination receives packets along the trajectories with the least interference. In this study, three interference avoidance routing protocols: EEIRA (energy efficient interference and route aware), EEIAR (energy efficient interference aware routing) and LF-IEHM (localization-free interference and energy hole minimization), are proposed for UWSN. Network architectures are developed for the deployment of sensor nodes. Classification and review of the novel network, MAC and cross layers protocols are accomplished. The EEIRA protocol involves a unique network architecture and selects the shortest routes with the least interference during packets forwarding towards the ultimate destination. Sensor nodes localization; which involves knowing the three dimensional coordinates of sensor nodes, for the computation of the shortest path in EEIRA is relaxed in EEIAR. The EEIAR also forwards packets along the shortest and the least interference paths using its unique network architecture. However, selection of such paths is based on depth (one dimensional position or single coordinate of the nodes). Localization is difficult to achieve because currents in water make the nodes to change positions. It also consumes extra energy. The LF-IEHM protocol uniquely uses variable transmission range and packet holding time. The variable transmission range avoids the situation when a sensor node does not find any neighbor node for data forwarding that results in packet loss. Also, every node holds a packet for a uniquely chosen packet holding time to minimize simultaneous transmission of packets by sensor nodes. This strategy minimizes interference and the resulting packet loss. Contrary to the conventional approach of route selection that involves coordinates for position specification of nodes, the LF-IEHM uses water pressure a sensor node bears in combination with waiting time to select routing paths. Simulation results reveal that all the three protocols outperform the counterpart schemes in terms of the mentioned performance parameters.