Simulation study on cross-layer design for energy conservation in underwater acoustic networks

As the underwater part of a heterogeneous system which integrates underwater, terrestrial radio and satellite communications in a resilient infrastructure, underwater acoustic network will play an important role. It serves for the underwater information acquisition and transmission. Supported by efficient underwater acoustic communications, the networking would focus on the construction of the network which will ensure efficient operation. In underwater acoustic sensor networks, energy consumption is a critical problem to be considered. It is not a simple problem of power source supply, while it is a synthetic result of power management, protocol planning, etc. Therefore, the solution should be an integrated scheme to combine several aspects during networking. Cross-layer design could contribute to this objective. In this paper, a fusion about MAC and Routing protocols, as well as the topology design, is studied in order to gain more profits for networking. The simulation shows its efficiency.