A New Multi-channel MAC Protocol Based on JS']JSW and Cluster for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

Constrained by the interior properties of underwater acoustic channels such as limited bandwidth, time-varying multi-path propagation, and large propagation delay, the design of multiple access (MAC) protocols for underwater acoustic sensor networks (UWSN) poses significant challenges. In this paper, we propose a new multi-channel MAC protocol based on JSW and Cluster for UWSN. Here Multi-channel means jointing CDMA and TDMA to access channel. We assume the UWSN has a cluster-based architecture, and each node is configured with three independent wireless transceivers, the cluster-head is responsible for the cluster's maintenance work. The protocol effectively makes use of the spatial and temporal reuse of the spread spectrum code, and the channel utilization ratio is greatly improved. Moreover, the protocol adopts the JSW transmission scheme which was tailored for underwater acoustic communications. Finally, the simulation results are presented to highlight its good performance in terms of throughput, energy consumption and end-to-end delay.