Ocean Current Field Estimation Based on Asynchronous Clocks in a Distributed Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network

Ocean current field estimation is crucial for various applications such as ocean resource management, environmental monitoring, meteorological prediction, climate research, and ocean engineering design, supporting sustainable development and effective ocean applications. However, traditional clock synchronization based methods face challenges in underwater environments, including signal propagation delay, energy consumption, and node heterogeneity. To address these issues, we employ underwater acoustic sensor networks for ocean current flow field estimation. Particularly, we designed an asynchronous clock protocol to eliminate the impact of clock drift on the underwater sensor network and enhance its flexibility. Based on this, an underwater acoustic sensor network is adopted for distributed velocity field estimation, which improves tolerance of the system. It is important to note that our solution has solved the problem of clock asynchronous in traditional ocean current field estimation. We improve the flexibility and applicability of the system by designing innovative asynchronous clock protocols, and compared with traditional methods, it can reduce estimation errors. Meanwhile, the adoption of a network structure based on distributed underwater acoustic sensor network improved system tolerance. Finally, simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the method.