Routing failure prediction and repairing for AUV-assisted underwater acoustic sensor networks in uncertain ocean environments

Abstract Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) provide temporary links, which is of great significance when it comes to dealing with abnormal situations or emergencies in Internet of underwater things (IoUT). However, UASNs are susceptible to changes and uncertainties in network topology, channel conditions, etc., which can easily lead to frequent link interruptions. In this paper, we introduce a link failure prediction mechanism and an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)-assisted routing holes repairing mechanism for routing design of UASNs in uncertain ocean environments, to save system energy consumption and improve network connectivity. The proposed link failure prediction mechanism takes into account residual energy of sensor nodes, node drifting information, and uncertain ocean ambient noise. When the energy of multiple sensor nodes is exhausted, the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) is adopted to calculate the optimal repair location, and an AUV is used for fixed point repairing. The proposed method can effectively reduce the energy consumption of sensor nodes, increase the packet delivery ratio, and extend the life of entire network of UASNs.