Performance Assessment of MAC Layer Protocols in Pollution Monitoring System Based on Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

When comparing terrestrial wireless sensor networks with underwater wireless sensor networks in terms of challenges, we find that the fundamental difference is the communication medium. Studies in this area indicated that acoustic communication is the typical physical layer technology for underwater networks compared with electromagnetic waves and optical waves. Energy constraint, long delay and limitation in bandwidth are greater challenges in underwater monitoring and other applications. In this paper, we will assess the performance of five UWSN MAC layer protocols of the aquatic environment in terms of energy consumption and received throughput and then nominate three of them based on previous assessment and compare them in terms of total drop packets and average end to end delay. Assessment is carried out by using Aqua-Sim simulators for underwater sensor networks and NS2 based simulator installed in Linux environment