Exploiting the Bandwidth-Distance Relationship in Underwater Acoustic Networks

In this paper we study the relationship between effective use of the available bandwidth, energy consumption, and transmission delay in a Underwater Wireless Acoustic Sensor Network (UWASN). We compare different solutions to transport data to a sink node, namely multihop transmissions through multiple relays and the use of direct relay-to-sink links that require more power but reach the sink in one hop. We also address the effects of different error control policies. Our analysis shows that the energy consumption can be traded off for delay by choosing different policies and by varying some key parameters in each policy.