Wireless Networks Composed of Underwater Devices with Acoustic Communication Capability

Ayhan Erdoğan

Graduate Student, Computer Science Department,
Naval Sciences and Engineering Institute, Tuzla, 34942 Istanbul, TURKEY
e-mail: aerdogan@dho.edu.tr

Vedat Coşkun

Assistant Professor, Computer Science,
Naval Sciences and Engineering Institute, Tuzla, 34942 Istanbul, TURKEY
e-mail: vedatcoskun@dho.edu.tr

Abstract

The topics such as the physical properties of the underwater channels, the structure of the receiver, error detection and correction, construction of networks and new advanced modulation methods are all considered as hot research areas of today. The Underwater Acoustic Network (UAN) is very related to the development of other sub-areas. UANs are designed to form a network of underwater sensors or automatic vehicles and transmit the data to control centers onshore. UANs should deal with the specific difficulties of underwater such as the limited energy sources, latency of propagation, narrow usable bandwidth and environmental noise. The underwater devices should be reliable, secure and have the ability of self configuration in case of failure. In this paper, we explain the matters related the UANs and concentrate on the realization of a reliable UAN operating with minimum energy but maximum throughput.