Surface Gateway Placement Optimization for Underwater Sensor Networks

Research on Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs) have been increasing drastically due to their significant potential for solving technically challenging problems. However, the challenging operating conditions such as underwater transmission delay, severe path loss, noise, and limited operating frequency render the realization of efficient UWSNs challenging. Surface Gateway (SG) deployment becomes one of the promising solutions to mitigate such challenges. In this paper, the optimal positioning of an SG to maximize the sensor coverage is investigated. The optimal location is compared with the benchmark location computed by averaging the location of underwater sensors. The coverage performances of solutions by using both of these approaches are comparatively investigated in terms of different numbers of underwater sensor nodes and transmission power levels.