Path-Planning Analysis of AUV-Aided Mobile Data Collection in UWA Cooperative Sensor Networks

The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) aided mobile data collection is an effective method for reducing the energy consumption of the underwater acoustic (UWA) sensor networks. In this paper, we propose an AUV-aided path-planning scheme using cooperative transmission mechanism for a medium-scale UWA sensor network. In the proposed scheme, we analyze not only the energy consumption, but also the task duration and path-planning cost comprehensively for practical applications. We analyze four different path-planning schemes in terms of energy consumption of UWA sensor nodes and travel cost of AUV. The simulation results show that the lawn mower path-planning scheme has lower energy consumption of UWA sensor networks. But the circle path-planning scheme has lower working time and path energy consumption of AUV. Therefore, in view of different needs, we should make a comprehensive selection.