Advancements within the Ausnettm (autonomous Undersea Systems Network) Protocol

The Undersea Networking environment presents many challenges, such as limited network throughput and extreme latency. It is further hampered by the challenges faced with all Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks, with regard to rapidly changing network topology, AdHoc routing overhead, and dynamic network size. AUSNet (Autonomous Undersea Systems Network) is an NSF funded STTR Phase 2 program (with support from ONR) to addresses these issues. The development effort has been undertaken by Technology Systems, Inc. (TSI) of Wiscasset, Maine and the Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute (AUSI) of Lee, New Hampshire. The AUSNet system has focused on the creation of a multifaceted networking capability based on a specialized implementation of the Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) Protocol fused with an innovative Prediction Based Routing (PBR) Protocol based on the principle of Dead Reckoning. This paper reports advancements within the AUSNet program, chiefly the alterations to the DSR Protocol, the redesign of the PBR Protocol, and the ongoing in water testing and integration efforts.