AUV-Assisted Energy-Efficient Clustering in Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

Recently, Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSN) have been proven to provide numerous application including military, environmental, and pollution surveillance, etc. However, once sensors are deployed in the deep sea, it is merely possible to recharge or replace their batteries. Hence, an efficient management of the available resources can extend the network lifetime. For example, clustering the sensor nodes is a potential solution, yet, exchange of multiple packets for cluster head selection, packet collision while sending data to cluster head and the continuous awakening of nodes waste a considerable amount of energy. Utilizing the advanced technology of the Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle(AUV) in UWSN, we present AUV assisted Energy-efficient Clustering(AEC) mechanism that introduces wake-up sleep cycle for the underwater sensor nodes. In the designed scheme, AUV not only collects data but also operates as a central regulator. AUV onus includes cluster creation, the cluster head nomination and creation of a wakeup- sleep schedule for the UWSN that relieves the additional burden from energy limited underwater sensor nodes. Unlike traditional clustering mechanisms, no additional packets exchanged in energy-efficient dynamic cluster head selection. The proposed scheme is evaluated and compared with Clustering with Fixed Cluster head(CFC) scheme. Simulation results show that by applying AEC, the network can remain stable for a long time that allows UWSN to deliver data reliably for the extended time span.