A full-duplex based protocol for underwater acoustic communication networks

Energy consumption and channel access time are two of the most crucial design issues in underwater acoustic communication networks since prolonging the network lifetime and improving the network throughput depends on the efficient energy resource management and channel access rules. This paper proposes a new full-duplex based and distance aware channel access protocol for ad-hoc underwater acoustic communication networks. The protocol saves transmission energy by avoiding collisions while maximizing throughput, and solves the hidden/exposed terminal problems efficiently. It is based on the full-duplex communication where we virtually separate the channel into two portions, using different frequency bands and different modulation/demodulation to transmit control packages and data packages separately. This protocol achieves a throughput several times higher than that of the traditional CSMA, while offering similar savings in energy. We have evaluated performance, efficiency and engineering feasibility of this protocol by both simulations and sea trails.