The Design of Clustering Algorithm and MAC Protocol for Low Delay Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs), which are popular in various application fields, including marine resources development, environmental exploration, seismic monitoring, etc., have made great progress in recent years. To maintain good scheduling performance, clustering algorithms and multiple access control (MAC) protocols have been widely used in sensor networks to improve network efficiency. However, the existing algorithms and protocols still have many shortcomings. For example, many clustering algorithms consider the delay performance little, the cluster structures are not always fully utilized by MAC protocols, and the cluster maintenance strategies are not considered. This article is devoted to solving those problems. By taking the node traffic and distances into account simultaneously, we design the cluster structure reasonably. And based on this structure, we plan a conflict-free handshake protocol with minimal idle time gaps. Besides, we also design a joining-cluster strategy for the free nodes to maintain the network without interference. Simulation results show that our work can perform well in network uniformity and end-to-end delay.