Reliability and delay analysis of AUV navigation system using EM wave based underwater sensor network

Due to the relatively longer coverage capability, acoustic wave based underwater networks are commonly used for navigating autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). However, significantly slower propagation speeds of acoustic waves make the navigation of AUVs prone to substantial operational delay. Though electromagnetic (EM) signal suffers from severe attenuation in underwater environment, it can be useful for short-range networks for faster communications. Considering the need for faster navigation of AUVs, this paper proposes and investigates an EM wave based AUV navigation system using underwater sensor network (UWSN). Extensive simulations are carried out for evaluating the reliability and delay performance of the proposed system for establishing a theoretical foundation of EM wave based AUV navigation systems. Impacts of transmission frequency, transmit power and detection threshold on the navigation performance are thoroughly investigated and critically analyzed. Performance of the proposed system is also compared with that of acoustic based counterpart demonstrating improved reliability and faster operation.