Abstract
Underwater wireless sensor networks are networks composed of various underwater sensor nodes (USNs) that are able to communicate with each other. The vast majority of Earth’s surface is composed of water, which makes such networks a very interesting research topic and enables a variety of applications, i.e, from oil monitoring to real time water pollution control. The design of USNs is paramount to the network’s operation. In comparison to terrestrial wireless sensor nodes, USNs are more expensive, larger, and present greater energy consumption, due to the harsh conditions of the aquatic environment. This leads to different challenges that need to be addressed in the design of the node, including processing, communications, energy management, data sensing, and storage. This survey aids in the development of underwater sensor nodes, and underwater applications. We present a general architecture of USNs and discuss the basic functions that must be accomplished by each unit. We also present a comprehensive study of all elements that compose a sensor node, including microcontrollers, memories, sensors, and batteries. In doing so, we highlight which aspects should be of pivotal importance in the design of a USN and how they affect communication protocols and applications. We believe that this survey can facilitate and guide development of future UWSN applications and protocols.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
I2C (2000) The I2C-bus specification. Philips Semicond 9397:00954
HYD (2004) Instruction sheet chlorophyll a sensor. Hydrolab, Venice
GLO (2009) Water quality sensors manual. Global Water, Beijing
MC9 (2010) MC9S08LL64 series datasheet. Freescale, Austin
PIC (2011) PIC18(L)F1XK22 datasheet. Microchip, Chandler
STM (2011) STM8L151x8, STM8L152x8, STM8L151R6, STM8L152R6 datasheet. St Microelectronics, Geneva
WET (2011) WETStar datasheet. Wetlabs, Philomath
ADU (2012) ADuCM360, ADuCM361 datasheet. Analog Devices, Norwood
C4E (2012) C4E product datasheet. Partech, Washington D.C
C80 (2012) C8051F96x datasheet. Silicon Labs, Austin
CDE (2012) CDE-45P manual. Omega, La Chaux-de-Fonds
CON (2012) Conductivity probe datasheet. Vernier, Beaverton
EM6 (2012) EM6819Fx-A00x, EM6819Fx-A10x EM6819Fx-B00x, EM6819Fx-B10x datasheet. EM Microelectronic, Marin-Epagnier
MSP (2012) MSP430F22x2, MSP430F22x4 datasheet. Texas Instruments, Dallas
SAL (2012) Salinity sensor datasheet. Vernier, Beaverton
ML6 (2012) Salinity sensor ML66M user’s guide. Center for Microcomputer Applications, Amsterdam
SCF (2012) Seapoint chlorophyll fluorometer. Seapoint, Brentwood
ENE (2012) Zinc air prismatic handbook
Ahmed N, Abbas Wb, Syed AA (2012) A low-cost and flexible underwater platform to promote experiments in uwsn research. In: Proceedings of the seventh ACM international conference on underwater networks and systems, ACM, New York, WUWNet ’12, pp 4:1–4:8. doi:10.1145/2398936.2398941
Akyildiz IF, Pompili D, Melodia T (2007) State of the art in protocol research for underwater acoustic sensor networks. SIGMOBILE Mob Comput Commun Rev 11(4):11–22. doi:10.1145/1347364.1347371
Albus Z, Valenzuela A, Buccini M (2009) Ultra-low power comparison: Msp430 vs. microchip xlp tech brief—a case for ultra-low power microcontroller performance. Saatavissa 16:2011
Analion (2012) http://www.analion.com.br/old_site/sensor.php?id=1
Analite (2012) http://www.geoscientific.com/datasensors/specifications/analite9000.html
Benthos T (2012) http://www.benthos.com/undersea-acoustic-release-modem-SMART-SM75.asp
Companies CS (2012) http://www.campbellsci.com/109ss
Company TS (2012a) http://www.thesextonco.com
Company TWC (2012b) http://www.thewaterproofcasecompany.com/products.html
Coutinho RW, Vieira LF, Loureiro AA (2013) Dcr: depth-controlled routing protocol for underwater sensor networks. IEEE ISCC
Cui JH, Kong J, Gerla M, Zhou S (2006) The challenges of building mobile underwater wireless networks for aquatic applications. Netw IEEE 20(3):12–18. doi:10.1109/MNET.2006.1637927
Dario IA, Akyildiz IF, Pompili D, Melodia T (2005) Underwater acoustic sensor networks: research challenges. Ad Hoc Netw 3:257–279
Detweiler C, Doniec M, Vasilescu I, Basha E, Rus D (2012) Autonomous depth adjustment for underwater sensor networks: design and applications. IEEE/ASME Trans Mech 17:16–24
Digitrol (2012) http://www.digitrol.com.br/produtos.php?cat=28&sub=83&prod=6
DSPComm (2012) http://www.dspcomm.com/products_aquacase.html
ECD (2012) http://www.ecdi.com/products/ph_series.html
Emerson (2012) http://www2.emersonprocess.com/en-US/brands/rosemountanalytical/Liquid/Sensors/DO/Pages/index.aspx
Energy H (2012) http://hardingenergy.com/
Erol M, Vieira LFM, Gerla M (2007a) Auv-aided localization for underwater sensor networks. In: Proceedings of the international conference on wireless algorithms, systems and applications, pp 44–54
Erol M, Vieira LFM, Gerla M (2007b) Localization with dive’n’rise (dnr) beacons for underwater acoustic sensor networks. In: Proceedings of the second workshop on Underwater networks, pp 97–100
Erol-Kantarci M, Oktug S, Vieira L, Gerla M (2011) Performance evaluation of distributed localization techniques for mobile underwater acoustic sensor networks. Ad Hoc Netw 9:61–72
Gray A, Arabshahi P, Roy S, Jensen N, Tracy L, Parrish N, Hsieh C (2009) Tradeoffs and design choices for a software defined acoustic modem: A case study: Extended abstract. In: Proceedings of the fourth ACM international workshop on underwater networks, ACM, New York, WUWNet ’09, pp 15:1–15:2. doi:10.1145/1654130.1654145
Heidemann J, Ye W, Wills J, Syed A, Li Y (2006) Research challenges and applications for underwater sensor networking. In: IEEE wireless communications and networking conference, pp 228–235
Jaffe JS, Glatts R, Schurgers C, Mirza D, Franks PJS, Roberts P, Simonet F (2007) Aue: An autonomous float for monitoring the upper water column. In: Oceans, pp 1–4
Kinetics U (2012) http://www.underwaterkineticscanada.com
Lee U, Wang P, Noh Y, Vieira LFM, Gerla M, Cui JH (2010) Pressure routing for underwater sensor networks. In: INFOCOM, pp 1676–1684
Lu C, Wang S, Tan M (2008) Design and realization of sensor nodes for dense underwater wireless sensor networks. In: Proceedings of the 17th world congress the international federation of automatic control, pp 12,819–12,824
Micron (2012) http://www.micron.com/products/nand-flash
Mostec (2012) http://www.mostec.ch/products/m8836s10/index.html
Pavan P, Bez R, Olivo P, Zanoni E (1997) Flash memory cells? An overview. In: Proceedings of the IEEE, vol 85, No. 8, CRC Press
Piller S, Perrin M, Jossen A (2001) Methods for state-of-charge determination and their applications. J Power Sour 96:113–120
Pinto D, Viana SS, Nacif JAM, Vieira LFM, Vieira MAM, Vieira AB, Fernandes AO (2012) Hydronode: a low cost, energy efficient, multi purpose node for underwater sensor networks. In: Proceedings of the IEEE local computer networks conference, pp 148–151
Planet O (2012) http://www.opticsplanet.com/dry-cases.html
Plett G (2004) Extended kalman filtering for battery management systems of lipb-based hev battery packspart 3. state and parameter estimation. J Power Sour 134:277–292
Seahorse (2012) http://www.seahorsecases.com/
Semiconductor R (2012) http://www.rohm.com/web/global/search/parametric/-/search/Serial%20EEPROM
Sensorex (2012) http://www.sensorex.com/products/do_probes/lab/DO_lab_sensors.html
Span G (2012) http://www.rshydro.co.uk/TS3000-Turbidity-Sensor-pr-16498.html
Survey USG (2012) http://ga.water.usgs.gov
Symmetricom (2012) http://www.symmetricom.com/company/news-and-events/press-room/index.cfm?releaseID=1667262
Toledo M (2012) http://us.mt.com/us/en/home/products/ProcessAnalytics/Turbidity_2011/Turbidity-High/InPro8050.html
Torres D, Friedman J, Schmid T, Srivastava MB (2009) Software-defined underwater acoustic networking platform. In: Proceedings of the fourth ACM international workshop on underwater networks, ACM, New York, WUWNet ’09, pp 7:1–7:8. doi:10.1145/1654130.1654137
University of California SD (2012) http://www.argo.ucsd.edu
Vasilescu I, Detweiler C, Rus D (2007) Aquanodes: an underwater sensor network. In: Proceedings of WUWNet ’07, pp 85–88
Vieira LFM, Kong J, Lee U, Gerla M (2006) Analysis of aloha protocols for underwater acoustic sensor networks. Extended abstract from WUWNet 6
Vieira LFM, Pinto D, Viana SS, Vieira MAM, Nacif JAM, Vieira AB (2012) Hydronode: an underwater sensor node prototype for monitoring hydroelectric reservoirs. In: WUWNet ’12
Vieira MAM, Coelho CN, Silva DCD, Mata JMD (2003) Survey on wireless sensor network devices. In: IEEE conference on emerging technologies and factory automation proceedings 1:537–544
Walden RH (1999) Analog-to-digital converter survey and analysis. IEEE J Sel Areas Commun 17:539–550
Yang X, Ong KG, Dreschel WR, Zeng K, Mungle CS, Grimes CA (2002) Design of a wireless sensor network for long-term, in-situ monitoring of an aqueous environment. Sensors 2:455–472
Yang Y, Xiaomin Z, Bo P, Yujing F (2009) Design of sensor nodes in underwater sensor networks. In: IEEE conference on industrial electronics and applications, pp 3978–3982
YSI (2012a) http://www.ysi.com/accessoriesdetail.php?pH-Sensors-6-Series-114
YSI (2012b) http://www.ysi.com/accessoriesdetail.php?6560-Conductivity-Temperature-Probe-95
YSI (2012c) http://www.ysi.com/accessoriesdetail.php?6025-Chlorophyll-Sensor-6-Series-93
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Informed consent
We consent with the Ethical Standards.
Research involving human participants and/or animals
This research does not involve human or animals participants.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Viana, S.S., Vieira, L.F.M., Vieira, M.A.M. et al. Survey on the design of underwater sensor nodes. Des Autom Embed Syst 20, 171–190 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10617-015-9169-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10617-015-9169-6