An acoustic network protocol for subsea sensor systems

This paper describes a new protocol for the a network of acoustically-linked subsea sensors. Much of the work described in this paper took place under the ACME project. This project was funded as part of the European Union's Framework 5 programme and involved the collaboration of researchers in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The main aim of the project was to develop technologies capable of supporting a data gathering system, able to operate in the difficult conditions of shallow coastal waters and estuaries. Such a system could provide continuous monitoring of important environmental conditions, such as pollution and sediment levels, as well as providing data on more general water parameters such as current flow.