Experiments with network coding in dynamic underwater acoustic channel

An underwater communication channel is a challenging medium for wireless data transmissions, so underwater acoustic networks often suffer from high packet loss. Implementing network coding in underwater environment is a promising technique to increase channel throughput and reduce data loss by transmitting packets that contain data from different source nodes. The purpose of the research is to increase network throughput at access points by implementing the network coding algorithm. This paper presents experimental results of implementing network coding in real underwater environment and demonstrates a significant improvement of network performance with network coding versus the standard queuing approach. Experiments were performed in the Mediterranean Sea during the CommsNet13 joint sea trials with the NATO Science and Technology Organization Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (STO CMRE), arranged under a collaboration agreement between Evologics GmbH and CMRE.