Sensor networks are today being deployed in scientific applications in fields and buildings, but their use underwater has been quite limited. Undersea sensor networks are either based on expensive wired devices or a small number of relatively large nodes with long-range acoustic communications. The Sensor Networks For Undersea Seismic Experimentation (SNUSE) project is developing fundamental tools to support small, low-cost, wireless undersea sensor nodes. With laboratory and testbed experimentation and simulation, the project investigates:
- Hardware for small, low-power, moderate-range acoustic telemetry for underwater sensor nodes; - Time synchronization, localization, and energy-efficient MAC protocols for environments with high-delay, acoustic communication; - Applications protocols for ultra-low duty cycle operation, including long-duration sleep and wakeup and efficient application-level data caching and forwarding.
This work is directly applicable to applications in undersea sensing, including contaminant and pollution monitoring undersea micro- and macro-organism -life tracking, and seismic monitoring of undersea oil fields. Although focused on undersea applications, a large portion of the research is also applicable to traditional sensor networks.
This work supports undergraduate and graduate research at USC, both directly and through sensor networking laboratory classes and the developing CiSoft Masters Degree in Smart Oil-field technology. The results of this work will be disseminated via technical papers, freely available hardware designs and software on the project web site.
