Performance analysis of cross-layer design for internet of underwater things

Abstract

Underwater communication is a diverse and complex environment and has many problems. There are many problems in modeling and operating underwater networks. Physical and data link layer specifications for underwater networking should be taken into account in terms of quality of service metrics. In this study, we construct an underwater simulation environment as a cross-layer design consisting of physical and data link layers for the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) Network. The IoUT network has sensors with various priorities, a central node as a hub and a gateway as a buoy. The underwater sensors communicate with CSMA/ CA-based IEEE 802.15.6 protocol on low frequencies. For a more realistic communication channel, all the features of the acoustic channel are designed and performance analyzes are discussed. In addition, the proposed IoUT is compared with terrestrial network results in terms of bit error rate, signal-to-noise ratio, packet loss ratio, end-to-end delay, radio receiver utilization, and throughput. We claim that we have made a realistic IoUT network, especially for divers, autonomous underwater vehicles with specific sensors, or for similar purposes.