Vehicle motion on optical communication quality in the process of underwater wireless data upload

An AUV can be utilized to harvest data from sensor nodes on the seafloor by an optical link. This paper addresses issues that related the vehicle motion to the optical communication quality between the vehicle and the sensor node. Channel characterization of the optical communications is simulated by a Monte Carlo method. The Henyey-Greenstein model is used to compute the distribution of scattering angle of the node. After a large number of photons are tracked, an optical power map of light distribution can be calculated. Selections of control parameters such as vehicle path, altitude and velocity are discussed based on light distribution above the sensor node.