AUVs Telemetry Range Extension through a Multimodal Underwater Acoustic Network

In this paper, we describe an underwater multi-hop network scenario based only on acoustic modems operating at different frequencies. The idea is to remotely control an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and verify whether it is able to follow the path sent by a control station (CTR) in the form of consecutive waypoints. The AUV sends back packets that can be monitoring or control information. We tested by simulation different MAC layer protocols to compare their performance in terms of throughput and packet delivery delay, in particular focusing on both contention-free (TDMA-based) and contention-based (CSMA-based) protocols, to analyze which solution performs better in different network conditions varying the amount of traffic generated by the AUV during its mission.