A low overhead message routing protocol for underwater acoustic networks

The possibilities opened with the use of fleets of autonomous marine vehicles sound very promising, making this the next logical step on terms of technology support for missions at sea. One of the enabling factors for such technology is the existing communication capability for the underwater domain. This paper reports the initial stages of development and testing of a simple routing protocol specifically intended to address NURC's operational requirements, supporting a de-centralized, pure ad hoc operation. Simulation results reveal interesting results matching the expected performance of greedy strategies while opening the door for joint optimization of energy and latency. The data and lessons learnt from a sea trial where the protocol was tested provide encouraging background to build a complete simulation model and design further field trials.