Performance Evaluation of Hybrid Acoustic-Optical Underwater Swarm Networks

The Underwater Swarm is a particular Underwater Network configuration characterized by nodes very close one to each other, with mobility capability. The structure of the network is that of a distributed network, in which the nodes, through the exchange of control information, will take decisions in collaborative manner. This type of network raises challenges for its effective design and development, for which the only use of acoustic communication as traditionally suggested in underwater communication could be not enough. A new emerging solution could be a hybrid solution that combines the use of acoustic and optical channel in order to overcome the acoustic channel limitations in underwater environment. In this work, we want to investigate how the acoustic and optical communications influence the Underwater Swarm performance by considering the Low Layers Protocols (Physical Layer, Data Link Layer and Network Layer) effects over the two different propagation technologies. Performance simulations have been carried out to suggest how the new hybrid system could be designed. This study will permit to provide useful analysis for the real implementation of an Underwater Swarm based on hybrid communication technology. Copyright © 2016 IFSA Publishing, S. L.