Challenges Being Faced by Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks and Its Countermeasures

The aim of this paper is to highlight the prospects and problems of optical wireless communication for applications in the field of Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs).This paper reviews the physical fundamentals and engineering implementations for efficient information exchange via wireless communication using physical waves as the carrier among nodes in an underwater sensor network. Here the physical waves under discussion are sound, radio, and light. We first present the requirements; then we discuss and compare the pros and cons for adopting different communication carriers (acoustic, radio, and optical). The problem of wireless underwater communication is a challenging field of investigation since radio wireless links used in terrestrial devices, cannot be used underwater. Also current underwater available technologies, which are mainly based on acoustical solutions, are still not suitable due to low propagation speed of sound in water and low data-rate. After making comparisons, we will make recommendations for the selection of communication carrier for underwater sensor networks with engineering counter measures that can possibly enhance the communication efficiency in specified underwater environments.