Packet error recovery via multipath routing and Reed-Solomon codes in underwater networks

Channel variability and a high level of noise lead to a significant probability of packet loss in many underwater networks. Techniques based on packet-level Forward Error Correction (FEC), such as Reed Solomon (RS) codes, can be used to offer effective protection against excessive packet losses that would be generated by noise. In this paper, we propose a new error recovery scheme based on RS codes to be used in conjunction with multipath routing. We discuss several routing policies to take advantage of the inherent redundancy of multi-path routing coupled with a suitable RS code. We evaluate the performance of these policies through simulation and compare them with the Multi-Sink Routing Protocol (MSRP). Results show that our policies outperform MSRP in terms of packet delivery ratio (PDR), and that our solution strikes a balance between the achieved PDR and the overhead introduced by packet replication.