Simulation and testbed implementation of TDMA MAC on Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network

Abstract

Three Dimensional (3-D) Underwater Acoustic Sensor Network (UASN) can be used to detect and observe ocean environment using co-operative and distributed sampling. We are proposing a multi-level clustering topology for ocean column monitoring application. A simple Cluster-Based TDMA MAC (CB-TDMA) protocol is simulated on this network using SUNSET platform developed by SENSES lab, Sapienza University, Rome. Analysis is provided in terms of packet delivery ratio, network delay and energy consumption. This CB-TDMA MAC along with multi-hop tri-message time synchronization is also implemented on a hardware test-bed in our laboratory. Brief description of this implementation is also provided in this paper.