UWSim: A Simulator for Underwater Sensor Networks

We present a new simulator for Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSN), named UWSim. Most of the currently available simulators focus greatly on ground-based sensor and ad hoc networks; they do not consider the factors that affect the underwater communication. UWSim, on the other hand, has its focus on handling scenarios specific to UWSN environments. For example, communication between nodes in UWSN must take place at very low frequencies, which a UWSN simulator can achieve. The actual software development was carried out in a purely object-oriented fashion using C# capabilities. The development was highly modularized and was based on object-oriented design methodologies. An illustrative example is provided to show how this simulator can be used to generate useful data characteristic of UWSN environments. Currently, UWSim has support for limited number of functionalities and it calls for further extensions to support a wide range of UWSN simulation exercises.