An Asynchronous Multicluster Network System for AUV Swarm Communication and Positioning: Design and Trial

This article proposes a novel multicluster network system for autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) swarm communication and positioning, addressing challenges of low throughput, high end-to-end delay, and significant ranging errors in traditional asynchronous underwater acoustic networks. The proposed system introduces a novel hybrid Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, which combines intracluster time division multiple access (TDMA) with intercluster frequency division multiple access (FDMA) to enhance channel utilization. Additionally, the system introduces an adaptive time-offset estimation method based on network data exchange and the ultrashort baseline moving ranging (USBL-MR) algorithm, which significantly improves network throughput and reduces delay and improves positioning accuracy. Field trials demonstrate that the system achieves a throughput of 398.3 bps with an end-to-end delay of 21.2 s. Furthermore, the ranging Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) has been reduced from 7.87 to 2.42 m, marking a 14% improvement in positioning accuracy.