Survey of AI-driven routing protocols in underwater acoustic networks for enhanced communication efficiency

The high-speed growth of undersea communication networks requires sophisticated routing protocols to deal with challenging underwater conditions including large latencies, limited bandwidths and varying topologies. In this paper, we examine the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Reinforcement Learning (RL) and fuzzy logic to optimize routing protocols for underwater networks. We provide a comprehensive survey of existing AI-based approaches, emphasizing their novelties and constraints underwater. To assess the efficiency of these AI-based routing protocols, we carry out extensive simulations across various underwater environments where metrics such as packet delivery ratio, energy consumption, end-toend delay, and computational efficiency are focused on. The results reveal that AI-aided protocols excel over conventional methods particularly in situations involving complex environmental dynamics as well as resources limitation. However, there are practical implementation issues which must be solved before the real-world application of AI-based routing such as hardware constraints, concerns on energy usage , and scalability. This study provides valuable insights into the integration of AI technologies into underwater communication networks, paving the way for more reliable and efficient underwater operations. Our findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge in this field and offer a foundation for future advancements in underwater communication technologies.