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IET Communications

Review Article

Underwater sensor networks: ‘Comparative ISSN 1751-8628

Received on 12th November 2019

analysis on applications, deployment and

Revised 28th February 2020
Accepted on 4th June 2020
E-First on 24th September 2020
routing techniques’ doi: 10.1049/iet-com.2019.1171
www.ietdl.org

Kamal Kumar Gola1 , Bhumika Gupta2

1Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun, 248007, India
2Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Engineering & Technology, Pauri Garhwal, 246194, India
E-mail: kkgolaa1503@gmail.com

Abstract: In today's scenario, underwater wireless sensor network (UWSN) has raised as a most famous research areas for the
researchers due to its advancement in the real world. In UWSNs, the sensor nodes sense the environment, and then this
sensed information is conveyed to one of the sink node and finally to the base station for processing. It is a known fact that
nearly about 70% of the total earth surface is filled with the water. It is difficult for the humans to get the valuable information
from the seabed. Major applications of UWSN are marine surveillance, sea monitoring, deep sea archaeology, oil monitoring
etc. Major goal of this work is to provide the broad survey of underwater sensor networks with its application, deployment
techniques and routing algorithms. This study also provides a comparative analysis of the deployment techniques and routing
algorithms that will aid the researchers to find the research gaps in the deployment and routing techniques. Moreover, some of
the UWSN applications also reviewed, which provides varied and valuable information about the UWSN approach. This study
presents an overview about the conventional technologies of UWSN and its major focus is to present the significant research
approaches towards the UWSNs’ applications, deployment techniques, and routing process.

1 Introduction Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) or unmanned undersea

For military and environment monitoring, wireless sensor network
(WSN) always provides a huge potential. In most areas, the
wireless sensor nodes need to be placed at a distance far from base
station (BS) and other nodes, where the data is collected, stored
and analysed. The deployment can be done in two ways, in one
way, the position of the sensors and communication topologies are
predetermined for node deployment and in another way it is not
necessary to predetermine the sensor node location and
communication topologies for node deployment [1]. Due to the
capability of deployment in an undetermined manner sensor nodes
can be randomly deployed in hospitable place or it can be used for
disaster relief operation. Sensor nodes do not communicate with
high power BS. i.e. sink. They only communicate with their local
peer by broadcasting. Sensor network dynamically adapts to
topology changes because of node failure or attachment on new
nodes. Due to this reason, a number of new nodes are attached to
this sensor network. During node failure, the nodes automatically
get reconfigured with the available nodes [2].
In WSNs, whenever a node senses the data, it transfers the
sensed data to subsequent sensor node. For this purpose, every
node identifies its nearest node and performs data transmission to
that neighbour node, so that the transfer of data can be done with
less energy consumption. After the discovery or nearest node
finding phase, a data transfer process takes place in which
information has been exchanged between nearest sensor nodes.
This phase is done in a single-hop manner that means sensor node
directly sends their sensed data to another sensor node in the
single-hop manner and finally, the third phase is forward/transfer
this data to sink node or BS.
Since 2000, the research in underwater wireless sensor network
(UWSN) are drawing huge attention and significant advancements
are achieved in underwater network protocols, modems, and
communication [3–7]. The sensors having miniature size with
constrained memory, bandwidth, and energy which are located at a
different level of water for monitoring the activity that happens in
an underwater environment. These nodes are capable to sense the
information, process such information and then transmit that
information to the surface sink via acoustic signals.
vehicle is fitted with the sensor nodes to monitor the underwater
area. Radio waves have very poor performance, therefore, the
acoustic signals are taken as the best option for underwater
communication. There are some challenges related to the acoustic
communication as compared to the electromagnetic waves like
path loss, high error rate, propagation delay lower bandwidth etc.
[8]. In acoustic communication, path loss can be defined using
distance and frequency
′P_Loss d, f = PLoss0d k a f ′ (1)
where d indicates the distance, f indicates the signal frequency, k is
known as spreading factor and the value of the spreading factor
depends on the spherical factors and practical spreading, PLoss0
signifies a constant, a (f) indicates absorption coefficient as defined
in [9]. The formula expressed below is applied for high frequencies
′10loga f = 0.11 f 2 / 1 + f 2 + 44 × f 2/ 4100 + f 2
(2)
+ 2.75 × 10−4 f 2 + 0.003′
The formula given below is valid for low frequencies
′10loga f = 0.11 f 2 / 1 + f 2 + 0.011 × f 2 + 0.002′ (3)
In underwater communication, there are two types of noise like
natural noise which can be generated by fishes and tide rains and
another is man-made noise that can be generated by the ship's
movement.
Delay: Delay is one of the major challenges in underwater
communication. Generally, the speed of acoustic waves is 1500 m/s
having a delay of 0.67 s/km. Some parameters like depth, pressure,
and temperature effects the velocity of sound in underwater
communication. The below formula is used to calculate the
velocity of the pressure and temperature is known
′C = 1449.2 + 4.6T − 0.055T 2 + 0.00029T 3 +
(4)
1.34 − 0.010T S − 35 + 0.016d′

IET Commun., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 17, pp. 2859-2870 2859

© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020

where the temperature (T) is in centigrade (°C), the salts presented
in the water for per thousand (‰) parts are indicated as S, the unit
of depth d is metres, and c is the sound velocity which is measured
in metre per second (m/s) [10].
Noise: The communication in underwater is affected by two
different types of noises they are natural noise, and man-made
noise. Natural noise is due to the tide rains, fishes, and dolphins.
Man-made noise is due to the ship movement.
Multi-path: Single and multi-path are the two different modes
of communication. While compared with a single path, the multi-
path propagation produces inter symbol interference (ISI).
However, the transmission through the vertical path consumes less
scattering time, but the horizontal transmission consumes large
scattering time.
The formula expressed above is suitable for the below
conditions:
′0 ≤ T ≤ 35°C, 0 ≤ S ≤ 45‰, and 0 ≤ z ≤ 1000m′ (5)
However, these technologies cannot be used extensively and it does
not fulfil the requirements of various real-time applications. This
difficulty is mainly due to the inadequate availability of resources
and also due to the inherent complexity of underwater
communication channels. Therefore, an extensive study needs to be
carried out in this UWSN to tackle the issues of the underwater
communication network. Some of the currently available UWSNs
are hardware-based techniques with closed, rigid, and inflexible
nature, therefore, it is difficult to reprogram, reconfigure, and
evolve these techniques in real-time applications [7]. Most of the
techniques are application-oriented, moreover, they are developed
for the isolated environment. Due to this, they lack the capability of
resource sharing, multi-application support, and found far away
from the service-based networks [11].
Furthermore, the UWSN has now subjected to various
challenges which needs to get tackled by developing variant
techniques for routing, and deployment. For example, the
applications of UWSN are get extended therefore different vendors
are integrating more heterogeneous underwater devices within a
single network. It is essential to improve the interoperability
features of those resources to perform communication among each
other in a seamless and cooperative manner. To face this upcoming
challenges, the routing, and deployment techniques needs to get
improved. In this review, different routing and deployment
techniques are reviewed. Moreover, the merits and demerits for
these techniques are also reviewed in this paper. In this paper, the
UWSN applications are reviewed along with its merits and
demerits.
In Section 2, some basic works performed in underwater
communication and underwater acoustic modem (UAM) are
reviewed. The brief discussion about the sensor nodes of UWSNs
are reviewed in Section 3. Some of the application-oriented
literature are reviewed in Section 4. In Section 5, the deployment
techniques are reviewed, moreover, the merits and demerits for
such techniques are also discussed. Furthermore, some of the
routing algorithms of UWSN are also discussed along with its
merits and demerits in Section 6. Finally, this entire survey is
summarised in Section 7.
2 Underwater communication
Underwater acoustic communication (UAC) has enormous
applications, so it had a huge demand in various fields. Acoustic
modem is considered as a core technology for performing the
communication in underwater. Huge efforts are taken by various
researchers to maximise the power consumption, data rate cost and
size of the acoustic modem. In [12], an OFDM (orthogonal
frequency division multiplexing) based micro-modem is developed
by including an omnidirectional transducer, digital module, and an
analogue module. Furthermore, an efficient framework for micro-
modem is developed to perform the UWAC effectively. More
reliable and high-speed communication is provided by this micro-
modem, so this is applied in various underwater mobile
technologies and UWSNs.
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An environment of water always gets varied, so designing a
UAM based on these changes is a difficult task. Due to the high
cost, it is not implemented in large networks. For such, a modem
prototype at low-cost was developed in [13] for short-range UAC
networks. Another acoustic modem having low cost is developed
in [14], and it is named as ITACA. The architecture of the designed
modem combines a microcontroller core with the energy-efficient
mechanism. During standby mode, it reduces the power
consumption during transmission and reception.
In [15], cooperative communication is exploited to develop a
routing algorithm with efficient energy for UWSNs. One
omnidirectional antenna is implemented in each node, and the
merits of spatial diversity are taken into consideration to coordinate
the multiple nodes. Multi-hop routing is accomplished in the
network layer, similarly, the cooperative diversity is carried out in
the physical layer. Then the smallest energy routing is formulated
as joint optimisation. In [16] the authors have studied about the
impact of acoustic propagation model on the performance of the
high-level communication protocols. The first analysis is done on
the development of underwater acoustic prediction model. The
second analysis is carried out through the performance behaviour
of various media access control (MAC) protocols and also analysed
the impact of the environmental variations on the network.
A low-cost Under Water Communication Network is introduced
in [17]. This method was developed to analyse the impact of
operating frequency over the performance of the network. Three
different scenarios are analysed in this method during data
transmission they are air-to-water, water-to-water, and air-to-air
scenarios. Two routing protocols that balance the energy is
presented in [18], for UAC they are Efficient and Balanced Energy
consumption Technique (EBET) and Enhanced EBET (EEBET).
The energy that gets lost by routing over a large distance is
minimised by EBET protocol. Depth threshold is incorporated by
EEBET for a number of hops minimisation. The energy
consumption within the consecutive ring vectors are balanced by
EBET technique, similarly, the energy consumption over the whole
network is balanced by EEBET protocol.
3 Underwater sensor nodes
The sensor nodes used in underwater communication are composed
of sensing unit, communication unit, acoustic modem, power unit
and processing unit. Physical conditions like temperature and the
pressure are measured by the sensing unit. Acoustic modem
converts the RF (Radio frequency) signal into acoustic signalling.
Data is processed and converted into a form of the required signal
by processing unit. The communication unit transfers the data to
the acoustic modem. All the discussed units require power and the
power unit is responsible to supply the required energy to all these
units to perform the task in underwater surroundings.
Sensor technology is well suited for various environments.
Development of an innovative physical sensor had enhanced the
data gathering by extending the range of environmental parameters.
However, still now, huge resources remain unexploited, by taking
this into consideration, a survey was performed in [19], which is to
analyse the recent advancements on UWSNs. Seismic waves
obtained at the bottom of the ocean is measured by Ocean Bottom
Seismometers (OBS). In [20], OBS is introduced for seismic wave
measurement, which is placed over the surface of seawater. Then to
realise the sound distribution around OBS, the ray acoustic-based
theory was applied. A vibration response system for OBS was
developed by the finite element computing software COMSOL
Multi-physics® (COMSOL), and this developed system is then
exposed to underwater noise. The overall development and design
of this system is found complex and expansive.
COMSOL: The software platform named COMSOL multi-
physics is used for modelling engineering applications. In [20],
COMSOL develops the response model in terms of vibration for
the OBS that are subjected to minimum frequency noise (1–1 kHz)
in the water.
In [21], the authors have shown a case study on submersible
UV_V is absorbance spectro photometer to find biological carbon
dynamics in a head water catchment. This system having good
IET Commun., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 17, pp. 2859-2870
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020

time-based resolution over old dated laboratory measurement and
grab sampling, it enables to resolve deviation at small time periods
and surveying concentration changes on a large time scale. It has
great capability to observe the system from anywhere with a
wireless connection. UV–V spectroscopy allows for the detection
of concentration change for over a long period of time. Sometimes
it may gather low-grade data, which degrade the performance of
this system.
In [22], a reduced cost passive acoustic monitoring (PAM)
system, i.e. POSEIDON (Passive-acoustic Ocean Sensor for
Entertainment and Interactive Data-gathering in Opportunistic
Nautical-activities) is developed for whale-watching. This method
employs the machine learning to determine the samples of vocal
acoustic from some cetaceans, more particularly from dolphins and
whales. Feature extraction performed by this machine learning
easily determines the vocal acoustics and provides valuable
information regarding cetacens vocal acoustics. The huge
deployment of open-software and hardware and user testing for
nautical PAM applications are not focused in this approach.
4 Underwater sensor networks applications
In [23], the authors have proposed a technique to observe the
quality of pool water for the trout farms. The authors have
developed an algorithm that shows information regarding the input
and output of all reservoirs and comparison was done on the fuzzy
logic basis to evaluate the sensed data. It also notifies the critical
situations particularly when the parameters cross the threshold
value. In [24], two different techniques are proposed to verify the
quality of drinking water. In the first approach, mini AUV is used
to take the water samples, then it transmits that gathered
information to the remote station. In the second approach, IEEE
802.15.4 based solar panels wireless interface are used to collect
and transmit the information.
In [25], the authors introduced the WSNs-based method to
monitor the river water quality. A sensor node is developed to
monitor pH of water. A signal processing module is embedded with
the sensor module to process the sensed information and a wireless
Zigbee module is employed to forward the data packets to the
remote station. In [26], the authors have proposed an ACME Net
project to monitor the underwater marine environment like fish
movement and any human or non-human activity that is happening
within that particular coverage. A time division multiple access
(TDMA) master–slave mechanism is also developed to transfer the
data through sensor nodes. In [27], a SEMAT known as smart
environmental monitoring and analysis technology is introduced to
monitor the water fields and further, it is also involved in marine
research. The advantages of this technology are that it is cheaper as
compared to the traditional system and can be easily used for short
term deployment. In [28], a system was proposed, which
determines the quantity of uneaten fiscal and feed that waste in the
fish farm. In marine's fish farm, this developed system is directly
involved for testing. A group-based WSNs is proposed for accurate
quantitative analysis which monitors the pollution in water.
In [29], a Zigbee-based UWSNs was developed to monitor the
characteristics of the fish farm. The system can be used for small
fish pools. A fish farm containing a specific sensor node may sense
the NH4, pH and temperature of that environment, then it transmits
the data using Zigbee-based routing protocol to the remote station.
In [30], the WSN-based system which is capable to observe the
huge farm is proposed. The system has some specific features like
remote login, automatic monitoring and history chart for the sensor
data. The proposed system is also capable to monitor: pH values,
water level, temperature, humidity etc. A wireless camera is also
used to monitor the underwater area using the internet.
In [31], the authors have proposed an intelligent buoy system to
monitor the coral reef which converts the sea wave energy to
increase the network lifetime. With this developed system, real-
time testing is carried out. The major areas of this system are
marine ecological system, marine life and coral reef. In [32], the
authors have proposed a system to discover the mineral resources
in an underwater environment. The proposed system is a
combination of underwater mobile like AUVs or ROVs (Remotely
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Operated Vehicles) and underwater acoustic sensor network. This
system is capable to monitor deep and large space in the ocean
environment.
In [33], a prototype to monitor the oil and gas pipelines in the
underwater environment was developed. The implementation is
done in a lab environment only while real implementation is still
pending. In [34], the authors have proposed an acoustic-based
UWSNs to monitor the flood in the rivers. This system is based on
the four-dimensional (4D) architecture having sensors, remote
station and AUVs. The sensor node forwards the information to the
AUVs using acoustic communication from which the remote
station gather the collected information. In [35], the authors
developed a system which can detect the warning about the robust
flood. The proposed system is based on the Zigbee technology and
sensors are used to sense the information at diverse water levels.
Moreover, the supervisory control and data acquisition was also
integrated along with this proposed system to detect the
hydrological related to the weather like rainfall.
In [36], the authors have developed an effective framework to
detect tsunamis. Seismic pressure sensors are applied by this
method for tsunami detection in an underwater environment, then it
forwards the sense data to the remote station using a direct
diffusion routing protocol. This framework works with respect to
the sense and response mechanism. In [37], a sensor which is
capable to sense the information, process the information and then
transmit the information to the related location and thickness of the
oil spill is developed. This work uses light sensor and conductivity
array algorithm for detecting the oil spill thickness. In [38], the
authors have used the concept of pattern analyser by capturing the
images from the underwater environment which is used to detect
similar structures and mines. All images are related to the mine
images.
Two problems are focused in [39], they are a limited range for
communication and sonar signal processing on the AUVs.
Experiment results show that an optimal solution is provided by
AUV for detecting the location of the submarines with minimum
risk and manpower. In [40], the authors have proposed an
architecture for the surveillance of the underwater environment. In
this system, first, the whole sensor nodes are arranged over the
water surface then at depth and at a location to occupy the
maximum area. This architecture also uses the data mining
technique to identify the objects like mines, submarines and
vehicles. In [41], the authors have proposed an anchor free
localisation algorithm to assist the location of the underwater
sensor. The designed algorithm depends on the adjacent node's
information. Implementation is done for both types of static and
mobile UWSNs.
The applications of UWSNs are continuously growing and
achieving huge popularity in the field of deep-sea surveillance,
ocean monitoring, military surveillance, oil spills and gas
extraction etc. Table 1, shows a survey on recent development in
the UWSNs application field [42]. The typical Architecture of
Underwater Sensor Network (UWSN) is shown in Fig. 1.
The different architecture layers [43] of UWSN are:
i. 1D-USWN: Its configuration insinuates a framework where
the sensor centre points are passed on self-governing. Each sensor
centre point remains as a singular framework itself, accountable for
recognising, gathering, and forwarding the information towards the
remote station. It is commonly referred to as an AUV, it bounces
within the water, sense or assemble the submerged properties, and
provides the information to the remote station.
ii. 2D-UWSN: 2D UWSN configuration implies a framework
where the accumulation of sensor hubs (bundle) is passed on
submerged. Each gathering has a pack head (moreover called stay
centre point). The bundles are settled because they are found
secured in the submerged surface. In 2D-UWSN, the information is
passed based on two estimations; they are, each individual from the
bundle talks with its hook centre with level communication
interface while, the stay centre talks with the surface light centre
with vertical correspondence associate. The optical, RF, and
acoustic correspondence can be used in 2D based on sort of usage
and nature of the submerged condition. For the pack of centre
2861

points, the framework course of action can be the star, work, or
ring dependent upon the application need.
iii. 3D-UWSN: For this architecture, the sensors are passed on
submerged as bundles and are secured at different profundities. As
the sensors are organised at variable statures, the communication
among each sensor is subjected to two estimations. However, now
it is changed as three estimations they are: (i) Inter-cluster
communication of centre points at different profundities. (ii) Intra-
cluster (sensor-stay centre point) correspondence. (iii) Grapple
light centre point correspondence. In every one of the three sorts of
communication circumstances such as acoustic, optical, and RF
associations can be used.
iv. 4D-UWSN: 4D-architecture is made with the combination of
different UWSN architectures, i.e. 3D and adaptable UWSNs. The
adaptable one contains remote ROVs to assemble data from the
stay centre points and hand-off the information in a remote station.
Naturallythese ROVs are used as submersible robots, transmitter,
vehicles, and even as submarines. The communication between the
ROV and submerged sensor centre point depends upon the data and
separation among them, otherwise, the radio or acoustic
communication can be used. The data needs to be transmitted to
ROVs, for that the sensors those having an adequate amount of
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data and which are found near to ROVs use RF communication.
Meanwhile the sensors those having less data and are found far
from the ROVs use acoustics join for communication.
5 Deployment techniques
As we know that in UWSNs, node deployment is the major task
that supports the topology control, network services, boundary
condition and routing also. The deployment techniques are
categorised into three classes like: (i) static deployment, (ii) self-
adjusted deployment, and (iii) movement assisted deployment
which considers the factors related to the deployment: the objective
of deployment, node types and energy consumption and
computation complexity. In static deployment, nodes cannot
change their position after the initial deployment. Many
deployment techniques follow the concept of this approach. In this
deployment, sensor nodes form a cluster-based framework at the
bottom and the gathered data is transmitted towards the surface.
This process is done in multi-hop paths [44, 45]. In self-adjusted
deployment, each node can change/adjust their position in the
network. This form of deployment improves network connectivity,
increasing the link quality and reducing the overlap condition [46].

Table 1 UWSNs applications

UWSN UWSN Deployment Number Communication Implementation Merit Demerit
application architecture level of type
sensors
measure ocean 2D shallow water, NA acoustic real-time experience less minimum SNR
bottom seismic sea floor communication amplitude of
waves [20] vibration velocity in
water
quantify the NA stream NA wireless real-time and lab- it has quick analysis time complexity is
stream-water communication environment ability and it is easy high
organic carbon to use
dynamics [21]
collect and NA sea NA acoustic real-time it is a low-cost power and data
stream acoustic communication application transmission
signals from facilities are poor
dolphin and
whale watching
boats [22].
water quality [23] 1D Pool NA RF real-time increases the it is expensive
awareness
regarding the water
quality
water quality [24] 3D and 4D reservoir many RF and acoustic real-time efficient result in it is difficult to
communication applicability, cost, determine the
and probability is deployment time
achieved
water quality [25] 1D river many RF real-time provide cost fails to determine the
effective platform to dissolved oxygen in
check the water water
quality
habitat (Marine 3D sea few acoustic real-time it effectively utilise edge nodes are not
Life) [26] the bandwidth and taken into
battery lifetime of consideration
sensors
habitat (Marine 3D shallow water few RF real-time it is a flexible and range and depth of
Life) [27] inexpensive system SEMAT is minimum.
fish farms [28] static 2D river 200 sensor RF real-time reduce the load inaccurate readings,
nodes, 4 traffic and limited testing
sink nodes distance.
fish farms [29] static 2D not available Not RF real-time cost requirement is it does not support
Available low multicast
communication
fish farms [30] static 2D pond 5 types of RF and acoustic real-time controllable and limited energy
nodes communication effectively monitor efficiency
all variations in farm
from anywhere in
the world

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UWSN UWSN Deployment Number Communication Implementation Merit Demerit
application architecture level of type
sensors
reef [31] 1D river not Acoustic real-time highly explore the time complexity is
available Communication variable space and high
effectively exploit the
fitness function
exploration 4D river 20 nodes acoustic not deployed achieves higher it gives poor-
(Natural communication performance in large performance for
Resources) [32] uninhibited oceans small-scale
approaches
exploration static 2D pool few RF and acoustic lab environment power consumption is nodes are improperly
(Pipelines and communication low positioned
Cables) [33]
disaster (Flood) 4D river few Acoustic testbed it perfectly fits with less throughput,
[34] communication latest techniques collision rate, and
high energy
consumption
disaster (Flood) 2D river many RF real-time less power it is found ineffective
[35] consumption, large for rapid floods
network capacity
disaster 3D not available 80 sensor acoustic simulation easily adapted to new energy efficiency is
(Tsunami/ nodes applications limited
Earthquake) [36]
disaster (Oil Spill) 2D Not available Not RF testbed provide accurate presence of wave
[37] Available result on different degrades its
lighting condition performance
military (Mines) 1D sea few acoustic software based accurately detect the it fails to attain
[38] communication mine and mine-like promising result
objects
military 2D sea not acoustic real-time reduced risk, it fails to develop the
(Submarines) [39] available communication covertness, and cooperative
optimise the sensor behaviour
position
military 3D seabed 100–600 wired simulation maximum coverage it does not function
(Surveillance) in 3D is maintained autonomously
[40]
assisted 4D pond and pool many acoustic real-time less error is computational cost is
navigation [41] communication experienced during high
positioning

Fig. 1 Typical architecture of underwater sensor network

The floating buoy is attached with the sensor node to adjust their mobile sensor nodes assist the deployment process. The mobile
position in the horizontal direction while for position adjustment in sensor node may be any unnamed underwater vehicle or AUV. To
the vertical direction, sensor nodes are attached with the floating fulfil the monitoring tasks, gliders are there to patrol some specific
buoy with wires. In movement assisted deployment, some available region in the network [47]. These mobile sensor nodes are used for

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Table 2 Comparison of Some Former Deployment Techniques
Reference Deployment Deployment Application Sensor types Merits Demerits
No. type objectives
[49] static for minimising the for data collection in underwater minimum energy based on target
deployment overlapping issues ocean, pollution sensor node and consumption coverage ratio, its
monitoring gateway less computational complexity varies
complexity
[50] static network lifetime multipath delivery to avoid UWSN and CH decrease dispute large computational
deployment maximisation long propagation delay among sensor nodes complexity
and energy
consumption
[51] static to ensure the optimal node placement virtual sink and less energy it requires numerous
deployment successful delivery underwater consumption, sensor nodes for
of data/information sensor node robustness and maintaining the
computational threshold of
complexity transmission loss
within a short range
[52] self-adjusting for minimising the to maximise coverage. CH and less computational gets affected due to
deployment overlapping issues underwater complexity water current and
sensor node consumes high energy
[53] self-adjusting reduce uncovered redeployment of nodes in underwater area coverage energy consumption is
deployment area non-coverage areas sensor node maintenance and high
minimum energy
consumption
[54] self-adjusting to cover the main for pollution monitoring, underwater intelligent algorithm large energy
deployment event area sea resource sensor node and reduced consumption
automatically reconnaissance. computational
complexity
[55] movement- to increase the For mobile UWSNs. underwater Accurately predict energy consumption is
assisted network coverage sensor node and node's position and high
deployment surface gateway less computational
complexity
[56] movement- to reduce the travel load balancing and AUV and detect failure and energy consumption
assisted time and distance energy efficiency, underwater recover it increased
deployment directional search, fault sensor node less computational
tolerance, data complexity
aggregation and control
signal dissemination
[57] movement- to decrease the to monitor environmental underwater improving the link high computational
assisted travel time condition sensor node and quality complexity, similarly
deployment AUV the energy
consumption is also
high

better network coverage, data collection and processing. Table 2 communications link). So, the creation of a virtual sink is
shows some existing deployment methods with their deployment considered as the main objective of this underwater network with
type, deployment objective, merits, demerits and sensor type [48]. the help of more number of local sinks [50].
There are some key points related to deployment techniques:

(I). Area coverage: Each sensor node attains a particular view of
the environment. The viewing area for each sensor node is limited
in terms of accuracy and range, it can cover only a limited area.
Therefore, this area coverage is also considered as an important
parameter.
(II). Connectivity: The percentage of total nodes that can reach
(which contains the path) the surface station.
(III). Network lifetime: It is identified as the time that is taken by
the network before the first node loses its overall energy.
(IV). Expected path length: The average number of the shortest
path taken by all possible pairs of network nodes is determined by
the expected path length parameter. It also measures the efficiency
of data found in the entire network.
(V). Node degree: The amount of edges that connected with the
node is identified by node degree.
(VI). Average node degree: The average number of edges that are
fused to all the nodes in the network is determined by the average
node degree.
(VII). Virtual sink: To support the communication needs of several
applications, high-speed links are utilised to connect the local sinks
of the network (i.e. underwater high-speed optical fibre or RF
6 Routing algorithms
Routing is considered as the fundamental issue for all networks.
The routing protocols take the in-charge for route discovery and
maintenance. Even though the acoustic communication in
underwater are analysed for even a decade, but still, now we are in
infantry stage in this research field. Therefore, the major protocols
that are developed to date for UWSN are highlighted, moreover the
disadvantages and advantages of such techniques are also
discussed in this section. Different types of routing algorithms are
introduced in existing literature among them most of them are
geographic-based routing algorithms. The literature works that
provides geographic routing-based UAC is reviewed below. Along
with that, some non-geographical routing techniques are also
reviewed.
6.1 Geographic-based routing algorithms
Pressure based routing: In [58], the authors have developed a
routing protocol based on hydraulic pressure to reduce
geographical routing problems. To measure the pressure level, the
proposed protocol uses any cast routing. Routing decisions rely on

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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020

depth information. Data is transmitted by the sensor node to the
other node that has the lowest depth as compared to its neighbour
nodes. The problem of local maxima is also reduced by
maintaining the recovery route.
Cluster-based routing: In [59], the authors have developed
temporary cluster-based routing to reduce the multi-hop routing
problem and it also balances the energy consumption. The
proposed approach uses two different nodes namely: courier node
and ordinary node. Ordinary nodes try to find the activity and send
the collected data/information towards the adjacent courier node,
meanwhile, the data packets are attained by courier nodes from the
ordinary node and forward such data to the sink node. In [60], the
authors have proposed a hierarchical multipath routing that saves
the energy of sensor node during transmission. There are two
phases of this approach: multipath establishment and path
selection. In 2D area, the sensor nodes are deployed in dynamic
nature. All nodes having the same energy level with a unique ID
and sink node having an unlimited battery and fixed position. A
multi-path mechanism is used for long-distance because it reduces
the overall energy that is consumed by sensor nodes.
The authors have introduced a grid clustering algorithm based
on the control information in [61] that enhances the energy
efficiency in the network. The proposed algorithm supports 3D
deployment. Cluster is developed by the proposed algorithm with
one CH on each cluster and location of the CH is at the cluster
centre. Here for inter-communication, each data packet having
control packets for path formation helps to lessen the energy
depletion and to maximise the network lifetime. In [62], the
authors have introduced an EERA-CA referred as energy-efficient
routing algorithm – a clustering approach. This algorithm is based
on the concept of a special node which may be CH. This protocol
depends on the clustering concept where the whole network area is
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clustered and every cluster must include one CH. Special nodes are
deployed on the bases of the tree structure that help to transmit the
data packets to BS.
In [63], a cluster formation is done on the bases of K means
approach. There are three phases in this work: cluster formation,
selection of CH and data packets transmission to the BS. Distance
from BS is estimated for all CHs, gateway nodes 1 and 2. If the
distance between CH and sink is less as compared to the distance
between CH to gateway nodes 1 and 2 then the CH can perform the
data packet transmission straight towards the BS. Otherwise, first
CH sends the data packets to the gateway node and gateway node
perform data transmission to the BS.
In [64], cluster-based multipath shortest-distance energy-
efficient routing (CMSE2R) algorithm is applied to maintain the
link between nodes for controlling the mobility of node in an
underwater environment. Here, four different kinds of stages like
network setup, cluster development, development of multipath in
appropriate clusters, and data forwarding phases are presented to
enhance the quality of links between the nodes and to minimise
energy consumption. The significant data found in the seabed is
extracted using this CMSE2R protocol.
Location-based routing: In [65], ‘an energy-efficient fitness-
based routing protocol’ is introduced. The source node transmits
the data to the sink node using distance, residual energy, and depth.
No control packets are required for the same. The proposed scheme
decreases E2ED and energy consumption. In [66], based on nodes
mobility, the Mobicast routing algorithm is proposed. Data packets
are collected within the AUV sphere. The sensor nodes present
within the sphere range uploaded the data packets to AUV. During
the same period, rest sensor nodes stay in idle state and wait for the
AUV. In [67], ‘an energy-efficient reliable routing algorithm’ based
on the minimum spanning tree is developed. The whole network is

Table 3 Research investigation in UWSN

Reference Technique/ Key Points/ Research gap Merits Demerits Simulation/
No.& Year Protocol/ Application Implementation
Architecture tool
[58], 2010 ‘Pressure routing for – Uses hydraulic higher cost in packet minimise the it limits co- QualNet
UWSNs’ pressure to find the transmission number of packet channel
depth, clustering, subset transmissions interference
of forwarders for greedy
progress maximisation,
lower E2ED, delay
efficient.-excellent
performance
[59], 2010 ‘Routing based on – used ordinary and need buffer to hold the it is scalable and data secrecy is NS-2
temporary cluster for special node/courier generated data till the energy efficient less
UWSNs’ node, balanced energy courier node visit, not
consumption suitable for time critical
– to monitor underwater application
missions
[60], 2011 ‘a new multi-path – 2D deployment of cluster formation is just it is found cost and C + +, MATLAB
routing protocol sensor nodes, static BS hypothesis, simulation appropriate for complexity of this
based on cluster for with unlimited battery results based on large underwater entire model is
UWASN’ power terrestrial network acoustic sensor high
– to improve the network
network lifetime
[73], 2011 ‘an energy-efficient – use of hello inappropriate for sparse less number of ERP2R attains NS-2
routing protocol for messages, physical area, distance nodes is required less network
UWSNs using distance calculation calculation mechanism for data packet lifetime result in
physical distance technique is not clearly defined forwarding grid topology
and residual energy’ – to extend the network
lifetime
[74], 2012 ‘an energy-efficient – establish multipath, complete routing maximise the increase in node NS-2
localisation-free void detection, MAC, update, time energy efficiency density severely
routing algorithm for absence of time synchronisation is affect the E2ED
UWSNs’ synchronisation, update absent
full routing
– to reduce energy
consumption

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Reference Technique/Protocol/ Key Points/ Research gap Merits Demerits Simulation/
No.& Year Architecture Application Implementation
tool
[78], 2012 ‘reliable and energy- – multiple path long delay the hamming code is bandwidth utilisation NS-2.29
efficient multipath communication, use combined with of hamming window
communications in hamming code, use forward error is found high
UWSNs’ of Markov model correction
– to improve energy
efficiency and
reliability
[65], 2013 ‘energy-efficient – Not used control need of holding time high network lifetime synchronisation of NS-2
fitness-based routing packets, use of among the sensor and less E2ED. the holding time is
protocol for UWSN’ multiple sinks. nodes for forwarding found poor
Heuristic function. the data packets
– to improve network
lifetime by reducing
the energy
consumption
[66], 2013 ‘mobicast routing – Multipath absence of time it eliminates the hole waiting time for 3D NS-2
algorithm for UWSN’ establishment, Void synchronisation, full problem and ZOR is high
detection routing update minimise the energy
– to avoid hole consumption
problem and to
improve energy
efficiency
[77], 2014 ‘MRP: a localisation – using layering expensive sensor node improper selection of NS-2.34
free multi-layered concept localisation is number of layers
routing algorithm for – to eliminate the eliminated using may reduce the MRP
UWSNs’ requirement of super nodes performance
localisation
[61], 2014 ‘a grid clustering – 3D deployment of no parameters and no intra-communication energy consumption NA
algorithm for UWSN sensor nodes, avoid energy model is does not require is high
using control control packets for defined, results also control packets
information’ intra communication not available
– to maximise the
energy efficiency
[79], 2015 ‘AEDG: AUV-aided – apply AUV for data no mechanism is it conserves the imbalance energy NA
efficient data collection on MST available to illustrate energy and improves consumption will
gathering routing – maximise network maximum number of the network lifetime increase the
protocol for UWSNs’ lifetime by gathering nodes with gateway by assigning limited transmission loss
the data from node members
gateways

categorised into the number of tiers and each tier has a tier head.
Super node is also used by this algorithm that has variable
transmission power with abundant energy. Super nodes are applied
for data reception from the node and then forward it to the data
receiving device. Super nodes are also used to create the network.
In [68], ‘a network coding-based novel cross layer routing
protocol’ is proposed for efficient data transmission. A multicast
transmission is used and decodes the data packets received in the
network. Real time-based routing maintenance protocol is also
used for route maintenance updation. There are two phases of this
approach, they are routing construction and route maintenance
which provides good performance in data packets delivery, E2ED
and average energy. In [69], the authors have proposed ‘a delay
aware routing based on Q-learning’ approach to increase the
network lifetime. In this algorithm, a data collection phase is also
design for a dynamic environment. The concept of Q-learning is
used to find out the optimal next hop. In this algorithm, an action
utility function is also defined that consider the residual energy and
delay during propagation for satisfactory routing decisions. It is
found appropriate for time-critical applications.
In [70], the authors have proposed an algorithm based on Q-
learning game-theoretic routing for UWSNs. This approach is
based on the game theory and reinforcement learning that provides
effective data packets forwarding mechanism. This method is
applicable only for the harsh underwater situations. This approach
uses distributed learning and online self-monitoring techniques that
increase its benefits. In [71], the problem regarding link stability
and energy efficiency are analysed. Q-learning aided ant colony
routing protocol (QLACO) applies artificial ant and reward
mechanism for the purpose of optimal route selection. QLACO
adapts the reward mechanism to maximise the packet delivery ratio
(PDR). Along with QLACO, an anti-void mechanism was
introduced for the avoidance of void region dilemma.
Two routing algorithms are introduced in [72], they are energy-
aware scalable reliable and void-hole mitigation routing (ESRVR)
and Co-operative -ESRVR. Three different strategies are applied by
ESRVR they are (i) two-hop neighbour's information to improve
the information by developing the routing trajectories, (ii) apply
backward transmission mechanism during the existence of void-
hole to find substitute path to reach the destination, and (iii) the
time taken to hold the packet before transmission is less. Further,
the reliability of information advancement was improved by
integrating co-operative fashion with ESRVR. Therefore, with this
routing algorithm, multiple paths are developed for data
transmission.
Depth-based routing: In [73], the authors have proposed a
routing protocol based on the residual energy and physical
distance. Initially, fix a sink node over the water surface, similarly,
deploy the ordinary nodes in the underwater environment. There
are two phases of this protocol: cost estimation and data
forwarding. During data dispatching, the data transmission from
source to BS may happen through a link. In [74], the authors have

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Reference Technique/ Key Points/ Research gap Merits Demerits Simulation/
No.& Year Protocol/ Application Implementation
Architecture tool
[62], 2015 ‘energy-efficient – use of special nodes, void area coverage, it minimise energy nodes at maximum NS-2
routing algorithm CDMA concepts is used Need real consumption and distance is not
for UWSN- a for data transmission implementation of the achieves high considered for data
clustering – to conserve energy work processing speed transmission
approach’ and to maximise the
processing speed
[67], 2016 2
‘RE R: Reliable – use of shortest path void area coverage, cost efficiency it does not attains NS-2
Energy Efficient algorithm need real higher performance in
Routing for – to improve reliability implementation of the energy consumption
UWSNs’ and energy efficiency work rate
[63], 2016 ‘energy-efficient K- – K-means clustering, algorithm is not improves the it is not suitable for MATLAB
means clustering use of multi-hop defined clearly network lifetime with single-hop
Technique for communication less energy communication
UWSN’ – to maximise the consumption in 3D
lifetime of sensor nodes underwater
environment
[68], 2017 ‘cross-layer routing – use of beacon need real high network lifetime improper selection of NS-3
protocol for message, initial routing implementation of the next hop rely results
UWSNs’ and route maintenance work in void region
– to extend the network occurrence
lifetime
[69], 2017 ‘a Q learning- – use of action utility void area coverage extend network random distribution of NA
based delay aware function, find the lifetime by reducing residual energy
routing algorithm optimal next hop average latency minimise the network
(QDAR)’ lifetime
[70], 2018 ‘Q learning game – use of game theory void area coverage high throughput and packet loss ratio and MATLAB
theoretic and reinforcement energy efficiency loss due to
distributed routing learning, suitable for retransmission are
for UWSN’ harsh condition high
[75], 2018 ‘FPRTR Algorithm – use of MAC protocol, void area coverage, minimise fault TDMA is subjected MATLAB
for UWASNs’ TDMA, epidemic more energy persistent in real- only for multipath
routing is used to avoid consumption time data distortion
the fault communication
less collision
detection
[76], 2019 ‘multimodal – the multimodal high propagation the complementary not suitable for harsh MATLAB
acoustic-RF network is exploited to delay and limited strength of both the underwater condition
adaptive routing improve the bandwidth underwater acoustic
protocol’ transmission capability and surface RF
technologies get
exploited
[64], 2019 ‘CMSE2R’ – it controls the node quality of link use fixed courier packet loss ratio is NS 2.3
mobility and maximise between the nodes nodes to improve the high
the battery power and the battery power link quality
of each nodes in the
network needs to get
improved
[71], 2020 ‘QLACO’ – to reduce the issues traditional greedy void region dilemma high propagation NA
of link instability and algorithms get stuck is reduced delay
energy efficiency in within the void region.
UWSNs
[72], 2020 ‘energy-aware – to minimise the reduction in node delivery ratio is high backward MATLAB
scalable reliable packet loss and number reduces the transmission path is
and void-hole channel congestion performance of large
mitigation routing’ protocols

proposed an energy-efficient depth routing. As in UWSNs, battery
replacement is one of the major problems so the objective is to
develop a routing algorithm that consumes less energy. Depth of
the sensor node is applied by this proposed algorithm to transmit
the data packets. Depth of sensor node accurately detects an
appropriate forwarder, through which the data packets are
transmitted to the destination.
In [75], the authors have developed a fault persistent real-time
routing (FPRTR). The proposed approach works in dual ways. First
is real-time message scheduling and second is the performance of
IET Commun., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 17, pp. 2859-2870
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020
time constraint networks. The MAC protocol is used to form a
reliable and accurate environment to show performance. TDMA
technique is used by this approach to provide the slot for each
message to avoid the collision during data transmission and
receiving part. The concept of epidemic routing is used to avoid the
fault when a sensor node dies and the connection has been lost. In
epidemic routing, there are multiple paths for forwarding the data
from sender to CH (Cluster Head) with the constraint that when
one path is failed which provide the fault persistent real-time data
communication.
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Table 4 Performance analysis of different routing algorithms
Reference no/Year Number of nodes Reliability Energy efficiency Delivery ratio E2ED
[58], 2010 100–400 high low high high
[59], 2010 150–350 high fair fair low
[60], 2011 1–100 fair low fair high
[73], 2011 25–400 fair fair fair low
[74], 2012 25–225 fair fair high fair
[78], 2012 400, 1500 fair fair high fair
[65], 2013 10–250 fair fair fair low
[66], 2013 100–1000 fair fair fair low
[77], 2014 25–225 fair fair high high
[61], 2014 NA fair fair fair low
[79], 2015 100 fair fair high high
[62], 2015 25–100 high low high high
[67], 2016 25–100 high fair fair low
[63], 2016 100 fair fair high fair
[68], 2017 50 fair fair fair low
[69], 2017 NA fair fair high high
[70], 2018 500 high low high high
[75], 2018 NA high low high high
[76], 2019 100 fair high high fair
[64], 2019 300 low fair low high
[71], 2020 150–450 high fair high high
[72], 2020 225 fair low high low

Adaptive-based routing: Similar physical infrastructure was
exploited by multiple applications therefore the bandwidth
limitation and propagation delay are considered as the major
challenges in multi-function UWSNs. For such purpose, both the
underwater acoustic and surface wireless RF are leveraged in [76].
Initially, the two multimodal acoustic-RF adaptive routing
technique was introduced to determine the factor that heavily affect
the performance of that adaptive protocol.
Multilayer routing protocol (MRP): In [77], the authors have
proposed ‘MRP for UWSN’. Layering and forwarding are the two
phases included in this protocol. In the first phase, the whole
networks are separated as layers and each layer contains a super
node while in the second phase, the data packets are forwarded
from one to another based on the layers. In this scheme, super
nodes contain abundant energy and varying transmission power.
Few nodes involve for transmission purpose between source and
destination which helps to decrease the energy consumption.
6.2 Non-geographical routing algorithms
In [78], ‘a reliable and energy-efficient multipath algorithm’ is
analysed. This algorithm uses the hamming code to enhance energy
efficiency and reliability. An efficient Markovian model is
developed to calculate the packet error rate as it reduces multipath
communication. This scheme also enhances reliability by removing
the retransmission. In [79], the authors have proposed an approach
based on the AUV that helps to gather the data from the mobile
nodes. It provides consistent data delivery. The authors also use a
minimum path algorithm for power efficiency while getting the
data from each sensor nodes with the condition that minimum
numbers of nodes exist in the path.
Some research works that are carried out in this UWSN are
discussed in Table 3, along with their key-points and research gap.
The comparative analysis for various parameters of different
routing algorithm is shown in Table 4.
The parameters that are evaluated to estimate the performance
of these presented routing protocols are discussed as follows:
Network life time: The time taken by the first node in the
network to get themselves fully exhausted which is expressed by
network lifetime.
Energy consumption: The amount of energy consumed during
the packet delivery is computed by energy consumption metrics.
Packet delivery is nothing but it is a process of transferring,
receiving and consuming the energy of all nodes while transmitting
the packet from the source to the sink in the network.
End to end delay (E2ED): Total amount of time taken by the
packets while moving from the source to the sink is determined by
average E2ED.
Packet delivery ratio (PDR): The ratio of total individual
packets that are successfully captured by the sink node to the total
packets that are transferred from the source node is determined by
PDR.
The sensor nodes used by different routing algorithms are found
different. These existing routing algorithms have shown some
degradation in some metrics. Therefore the necessity for the
searching of the new routing algorithm is increased.
7 Conclusion
As we know that the field of sensor network is developed as the
prominent broad areas for the researchers. However, there occur so
many challenges during the implementation of UWSNs. Recently,
considerable research efforts and successful implementation have
been focused on the underwater sensor networks. There are two
major fundamental tasks in sensor networks. First is sensor node
deployment and second is energy-efficient routing. So this work
shows a detailed survey of the deployment techniques and routing
algorithms as well as the comparison is also done to find the
research gaps. Moreover, this work also performs a survey on
UWSN applications. This is very much useful for the readers to
gain knowledge about the UWSN routing and some basic ideas
about the UAC. Practically, all papers have featured the
requirement of innovation for underwater communications and the
scope of uses in the submerged condition is developing faster. Most
scientists have put-forth their attention towards the difficulties and
disadvantages while developing new innovations right now.
Therefore, the UWSN and sensor nodes have been an interesting
issue from several years onwards, it is clear that this zone will be
seen as a fascinating topic for furthermore years to come due to the
prerequisite for more innovations right now.
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