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19 pages, 11667 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Self-Organizing and Scalable Routing Protocol (SOSRP) for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

by Sateesh Kumar Hindu, Waheeduddin Hyder, Miguel-Angel Luque-Nieto, Javier Poncela and Pablo Otero

Sensors 2019, 19(14), 3130; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19143130 - 16 Jul 2019

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4519

Abstract

Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (UASN) have two important limitations: a very aggressive (marine) environment, and the use of acoustic signals. This means that the techniques for terrestrial wireless sensor networks (WSN) are not applicable. This paper proposes a routing protocol called “Self-Organizing and [...] Read more.

Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (UASN) have two important limitations: a very aggressive (marine) environment, and the use of acoustic signals. This means that the techniques for terrestrial wireless sensor networks (WSN) are not applicable. This paper proposes a routing protocol called “Self-Organizing and Scalable Routing Protocol” (SOSRP) which is decentralized and based on tables residing in each node. A combination of the hop value to the collector node and the distance is used as a criterion to create routes leading to the sink node. The expected functions of the protocol include self-organization of the routes, tolerance to failures and detection of isolated nodes. Through the implementation of SOSRP in Matlab and a model of propagation and energy being appropriate for marine environment, performance results are obtained in different scenarios (varying both nodes and transmission range) that include parameters such as end-to-end packet delay, consumption of energy or length of the created routes (with and without failure). The results obtained show a stable, reliable and suitable operation for the deployment and operation of nodes in UASN networks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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12 pages, 4235 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design and Evaluation of an Acoustic Modem for a Small Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle

by Siyuan Zheng, Feng Tong, Bin Li, Qiuyang Tao, Aijun Song and Fumin Zhang

Sensors 2019, 19(13), 2923; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19132923 - 1 Jul 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4321

Abstract

Design of underwater acoustic (UWA) modems for compact-sized, underwater platforms such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is challenging because of the practical requirement to keep an engineering balance between the performance and the system overhead. Considering this type of mobile communication scenario, Doppler [...] Read more.

Design of underwater acoustic (UWA) modems for compact-sized, underwater platforms such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is challenging because of the practical requirement to keep an engineering balance between the performance and the system overhead. Considering this type of mobile communication scenario, Doppler spread as well as the multipath draws substantial attention in implementing the system’s design and engineering. Specifically, for a small AUV, the large computational complexity of real-time resampling for the classic Doppler correction poses significant difficulty for the limited capability of the low-cost processor. In this paper, by adopting an adjustable AD (analog-to-digital) sampling rate, a Doppler compensation approach is proposed to enable low-complexity hardware implementation. Based on this, a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) acoustic modem is designed for a low-cost, small-sized AUV. Meanwhile, the performance evaluation of this acoustic modem is conducted in terms of the robustness upon varying Doppler as well as AUV integration. Finally, experimental results performed on a commercial, small-sized AUV under different speeds are reported to verify the effectiveness of the proposed acoustic modem. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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10 pages, 2708 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimal Deployment of Vector Sensor Nodes in Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

by Sunhyo Kim and Jee Woong Choi

Sensors 2019, 19(13), 2885; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19132885 - 29 Jun 2019

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4316

Abstract

Underwater acoustic sensor networks have recently attracted considerable attention as demands on the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) increase. In terms of efficiency, it is important to achieve the maximum communication coverage using a limited number of sensor nodes while maintaining communication connectivity. [...] Read more.

Underwater acoustic sensor networks have recently attracted considerable attention as demands on the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) increase. In terms of efficiency, it is important to achieve the maximum communication coverage using a limited number of sensor nodes while maintaining communication connectivity. In 2017, Kim and Choi proposed a new deployment algorithm using the communication performance surface, which is a geospatial information map representing the underwater acoustic communication performance of a targeted underwater area. In that work, each sensor node was a vertically separated hydrophone array, which measures acoustic pressure (a scalar quantity). Although an array receiver is an effective system to eliminate inter-symbol interference caused by multipath channel impulse responses in underwater communication environments, a large-scale receiver system degrades the spatial efficiency. In this paper, single-vector sensors measuring the particle velocity are used as underwater sensor nodes. A single-vector sensor can be considered to be a single-input multiple-output communication system because it measures the three directional components of particle velocity. Our simulation results show that the optimal deployment obtained using single-vector sensor nodes is more effective than that obtained using a hydrophone (three-channel vertical-pressure sensor) array. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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29 pages, 5042 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Predictive Guidance Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm for AUV in Unknown Environments

by Juan Li, Jianxin Zhang, Honghan Zhang and Zheping Yan

Sensors 2019, 19(13), 2862; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19132862 - 27 Jun 2019

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 5762

Abstract

A predictive guidance obstacle avoidance algorithm (PGOA) in unknown environments is proposed for autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that must adapt to multiple complex obstacle environments. Using the environmental information collected by the Forward-looking Sonar (FLS), the obstacle boundary is simplified by the convex [...] Read more.

A predictive guidance obstacle avoidance algorithm (PGOA) in unknown environments is proposed for autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that must adapt to multiple complex obstacle environments. Using the environmental information collected by the Forward-looking Sonar (FLS), the obstacle boundary is simplified by the convex algorithm and Bessel interpolation. Combining the predictive control secondary optimization function and the obstacle avoidance weight function, the predicting obstacle avoidance trajectory parameters are obtained. According to different types of obstacle environments, the corresponding obstacle avoidance rules are formulated. Lastly, combining with the obstacle avoidance parameters and rules, the AUV’s predicting obstacle avoidance trajectory point is obtained. Then AUV can successfully achieve obstacle avoidance using the guidance algorithm. The simulation results show that the PGOA algorithm can better predict the trajectory point of the obstacle avoidance path of AUV, and the secondary optimization function can successfully achieve collision avoidance for different complex obstacle environments. Lastly, comparing the execution efficiency and cost of different algorithms, which deal with various complex obstacle environments, simulation experiment results indicate the high efficiency and great adaptability of the proposed algorithm. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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18 pages, 5218 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spark-Based Parallel Genetic Algorithm for Simulating a Solution of Optimal Deployment of an Underwater Sensor Network

by Peng Liu, Shuai Ye, Can Wang and Zongwei Zhu

Sensors 2019, 19(12), 2717; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19122717 - 17 Jun 2019

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3168

Abstract

Underwater sensor networks have wide application prospects, but the large-scale sensing node deployment is severely hindered by problems like energy constraints, long delays, local disconnections, and heavy energy consumption. These problems can be solved effectively by optimizing sensing node deployment with a genetic [...] Read more.

Underwater sensor networks have wide application prospects, but the large-scale sensing node deployment is severely hindered by problems like energy constraints, long delays, local disconnections, and heavy energy consumption. These problems can be solved effectively by optimizing sensing node deployment with a genetic algorithm. However, the genetic algorithm (GA) needs many iterations in solving the best location of underwater sensor deployment, which results in long running time delays and limited practical application when dealing with large-scale data. The classical parallel framework Hadoop can improve the GA running efficiency to some extent while the state-of-the-art parallel framework Spark can release much more parallel potential of GA by realizing parallel crossover, mutation, and other operations on each computing node. Giving full allowance for the working environment of the underwater sensor network and the characteristics of sensors, this paper proposes a Spark-based parallel GA to calculate the extremum of the Shubert multi-peak function, through which the optimal deployment of the underwater sensor network can be obtained. Experimental results show that while faced with a large-scale underwater sensor network, compared with single node and Hadoop framework, the Spark-based implementation not only significantly reduces the running time but also effectively avoids the problem of premature convergence because of its powerful randomness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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15 pages, 9342 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Water Temperature Observation by Coastal Acoustic Tomography in Artificial Upwelling Area

by Haocai Huang, Yong Guo, Zhikun Wang, Yun Shen and Yan Wei

Sensors 2019, 19(12), 2655; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19122655 - 12 Jun 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3423

Abstract

Artificial upwelling is a geoengineering method to repair and improve marine ecosystems, and its operation requires long-term and continuous temperature field observation. However, existing methods are rarely seen to accomplish such observation. In this study, we investigate the coastal acoustic tomography (CAT) to [...] Read more.

Artificial upwelling is a geoengineering method to repair and improve marine ecosystems, and its operation requires long-term and continuous temperature field observation. However, existing methods are rarely seen to accomplish such observation. In this study, we investigate the coastal acoustic tomography (CAT) to obtain the long-term horizontal temperature field of an artificial upwelling area in an anechoic tank. We conduct four sets of experiments with different CAT station numbers and compare their data with those collected from temperature sensors. By analyzing the travel time from the CAT experiments, the horizontal temperature field of the upwelling area could be mapped. The CAT results and the comparison results show that the surface temperature of the observed area decreases by approximately 3 °C after upwelling, while the temperature of where the CAT is deployed decreases by about 1 °C; the temperature is lowest at the center of the upwelling area. Increasing the number of stations and station spacing would improve the temperature mapping accuracy. Therefore, the feasibility of using the CAT system to observe artificial upwelling is proved valid. This study indicates the potential application of CAT in temperature field observation in artificial upwelling area in the sea. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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21 pages, 10841 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Hybrid Energy Equating Game for Energy Management in the Internet of Underwater Things

by Gulnaz Ahmed, Xi Zhao and Mian Muhammad Sadiq Fareed

Sensors 2019, 19(10), 2351; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19102351 - 22 May 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2936

Abstract

The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) is an evolving class of Internet of Things and it is considered the basic unit for the development of smart cities. To support the idea of IoUT, an Underwater Sensor Network (USN) has emerged as a potential [...] Read more.

The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) is an evolving class of Internet of Things and it is considered the basic unit for the development of smart cities. To support the idea of IoUT, an Underwater Sensor Network (USN) has emerged as a potential technology that has attractive and updated applications for underwater environment monitoring. In such networks, route selection and cluster-head management are still challenging. As the optimal routes always lead to congestion and longer delays while the cluster-head mismanagement leads to ending the USN lifespan earlier. In this paper, we propose a cooperative clustering game that is based upon energy heterogeneity and a penalty mechanism to deal with the cluster head mismanagement issue. Then, we use a non-cooperative evolutionary game for the best relay selection; the results prove that this utility function is the most suitable solution for the relay selection and its strategy selection converges to Nash Equilibrium. The proposed framework is compared with recent schemes using different quality measures and we found that our proposed framework performs favorably against the existing schemes for all of the evaluation metrics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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20 pages, 449 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Dynamic Surface Gateway Placement Scheme for Mobile Underwater Networks

by Jun Liu, Wenxue Guan, Guangjie Han, Jun-Hong Cui, Lance Fiondella and Manal Al-Bzoor

Sensors 2019, 19(9), 1993; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19091993 - 28 Apr 2019

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3556

Abstract

Deployment of surface-level gateways holds potential as an effective method to alleviate high-propagation delays and high-error probability in an underwater wireless sensor network (UWSN). This promise comes from reducing distances to underwater nodes and using radio waves to forward information to a control [...] Read more.

Deployment of surface-level gateways holds potential as an effective method to alleviate high-propagation delays and high-error probability in an underwater wireless sensor network (UWSN). This promise comes from reducing distances to underwater nodes and using radio waves to forward information to a control station. In an UWSN, a dynamic energy efficient surface-level gateway deployment is required to cope with the mobility of underwater nodes while considering the remote and three-dimensional nature of marine space. In general, deployment problems are usually modeled as an optimization problem to satisfy multiple constraints given a set of parameters. One previously published static deployment optimization framework makes assumptions about network workload, routing, medium access control performance, and node mobility. However, in real underwater environments, all these parameters are dynamic. Therefore, the accuracy of performance estimates calculated through static UWSN deployment optimization framework tends to be limited by nature. This paper presents the Prediction-Assisted Dynamic Surface Gateway Placement (PADP) algorithm to maximize the coverage and minimize the average end-to-end delay of a mobile underwater sensor network over a specified period. PADP implements the Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) tracking scheme to predict the positions of sensor nodes. The deployment is determined based on both current and predicted positions of sensor nodes, which enables better coverage and shorter end-to-end delay. PADP uses a branch-and-cut approach to solve the optimization problem efficiently, and employs a disjoint-set data structure to ensure connectivity. Simulation results illustrate that PADP significantly outperforms a static gateway deployment scheme. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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16 pages, 1513 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Concurrent Transmission Based on Distributed Scheduling for Underwater Acoustic Networks

by Jun Zhang, Hanhua Lai and Yan Xiong

Sensors 2019, 19(8), 1871; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19081871 - 19 Apr 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2910

Abstract

Handshaking is a common technique used to avoid collisions in terrestrial and underwater content-based networks. However, due to the long propagation delay of the underwater acoustic channel, the conventional handshaking mechanism, which only allows one successful handshake and one pair of nodes to [...] Read more.

Handshaking is a common technique used to avoid collisions in terrestrial and underwater content-based networks. However, due to the long propagation delay of the underwater acoustic channel, the conventional handshaking mechanism, which only allows one successful handshake and one pair of nodes to communicate per transmission cycle, becomes less effective in underwater acoustic networks. This paper proposes a new distributed scheduling method for underwater acoustic networks that supports multiple handshakes and concurrent transmissions in one transmission cycle for one-hop clusters. A deterministic scheduling algorithm was developed to optimize the sending sequence and time of the source nodes jointly so that the total data transmission time is shortened while avoiding collisions among multiple concurrent transmissions. The deterministic scheduling algorithm can also reduce the scheduling overhead and enables the synchronization of the data concurrent transmissions in a distributed manner via the standard two-way handshaking. Simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms several conventional underwater medium access control protocols in normalized throughput, packet delivery rate, average end-to-end delay, and average energy consumption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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16 pages, 2182 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Fully Generalized Spatial Modulation for the Internet of Underwater Things

by Zeyad A. H. Qasem, Hamada Esmaiel, Haixin Sun, Junfeng Wang, Yongchun Miao and Sheraz Anwar

Sensors 2019, 19(7), 1519; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19071519 - 28 Mar 2019

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4077

Abstract

A full design of the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) with a high data rate is one of the greatest underwater communication difficulties due to the unavailability of a sustainable power source for the battery supplies of sensor nodes, electromagnetic spread weakness, and [...] Read more.

A full design of the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) with a high data rate is one of the greatest underwater communication difficulties due to the unavailability of a sustainable power source for the battery supplies of sensor nodes, electromagnetic spread weakness, and limited acoustic waves channel bandwidth. This paper presents a new energy-efficient communication scheme named Enhanced Fully Generalized Spatial Modulation (EFGSM) for the underwater acoustic channel, where the different number of active antennas used in Fully Generalized Spatial Modulation (FGSM) is combined with multiple signal constellations. The proposed EFGSM enhances energy efficiency over conventional schemes such as spatial modulation, generalized spatial modulation, and FGSM. In order to increase energy and spectral performance, the proposed technique conveys data bits not just by the number of active antenna’s index as in the existing traditional FGSM, but also using the type of signal constellation to increase the data bit rate and improve power saving without increasing the receiver’s complexity. The proposed EFGSM uses primary and secondary constellations as indexes to carry information, they are derived from others by geometric interpolation signal space. The performance of the suggested EFGSM is estimated and demonstrated through Monte Carlo simulation over an underwater acoustic channel. The simulation results confirm the advantage of the suggested EFGSM scheme not just regarding energy and spectral efficiency but also concerning the average bit error rate (ABER). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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16 pages, 10938 KiB

Open AccessArticle

ProLo: Localization via Projection for Three-Dimensional Mobile Underwater Sensor Networks

by Feng Zhou, Yushi Li, Hejun Wu, Zhimin Ding and Xiying Li

Sensors 2019, 19(6), 1414; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19061414 - 22 Mar 2019

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3052

Abstract

We study the problem of three-dimensional localization of the underwater mobile sensor networks using only range measurements without GPS devices. This problem is challenging because sensor nodes often drift with unknown water currents. Consequently, the moving direction and speed of a sensor node [...] Read more.

We study the problem of three-dimensional localization of the underwater mobile sensor networks using only range measurements without GPS devices. This problem is challenging because sensor nodes often drift with unknown water currents. Consequently, the moving direction and speed of a sensor node cannot be predicted. Moreover, the motion devices of the sensor nodes are not accurate in underwater environments. Therefore, we propose an adaptive localization scheme, ProLo, taking these uncertainties into consideration. This scheme applies the rigidity theory and maintains a virtual rigid structure through projection. We have proved the correctness of this three-dimensional localization scheme and also validated it using simulation. The results demonstrate that ProLo is promising for real mobile underwater sensor networks with various noises and errors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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30 pages, 817 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards Void Hole Alleviation by Exploiting the Energy Efficient Path and by Providing the Interference-Free Proactive Routing Protocols in IoT Enabled Underwater WSNs

by Muhammad Awais, Nadeem Javaid, Amjad Rehman, Umar Qasim, Musaed Alhussein and Khursheed Aurangzeb

Sensors 2019, 19(6), 1313; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19061313 - 15 Mar 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4016

Abstract

Nowadays, the Internet of Things enabled Underwater Wireless Sensor Network (IoT-UWSN) is suffering from serious performance restrictions, i.e., high End to End (E2E) delay, low energy efficiency, low data reliability, etc. The necessity of efficient, reliable, collision and interference-free communication has become a [...] Read more.

Nowadays, the Internet of Things enabled Underwater Wireless Sensor Network (IoT-UWSN) is suffering from serious performance restrictions, i.e., high End to End (E2E) delay, low energy efficiency, low data reliability, etc. The necessity of efficient, reliable, collision and interference-free communication has become a challenging task for the researchers. However, the minimum Energy Consumption (EC) and low E2E delay increase the performance of the IoT-UWSN. Therefore, in the current work, two proactive routing protocols are presented, namely: Bellman–Ford Shortest Path-based Routing (BF-SPR-Three) and Energy-efficient Path-based Void hole and Interference-free Routing (EP-VIR-Three). Then we formalized the aforementioned problems to accomplish the reliable data transmission in Underwater Wireless Sensor Network (UWSN). The main objectives of this paper include minimum EC, interference-free transmission, void hole avoidance and high Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR). Furthermore, the algorithms for the proposed routing protocols are presented. Feasible regions using linear programming are also computed for optimal EC and to enhance the network lifespan. Comparative analysis is also performed with state-of-the-art proactive routing protocols. In the end, extensive simulations have been performed to authenticate the performance of the proposed routing protocols. Results and discussion disclose that the proposed routing protocols outperformed the counterparts significantly. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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21 pages, 976 KiB

Open AccessArticle

CoSiM-RPO: Cooperative Routing with Sink Mobility for Reliable and Persistent Operation in Underwater Acoustic Wireless Sensor Networks

by Munsif Ali, Anwar Khan, Khursheed Aurangzeb, Ihsan Ali, Hasan Mahmood, Syed Irtaza Haider and Naeem Bhatti

Sensors 2019, 19(5), 1101; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19051101 - 4 Mar 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3711

Abstract

An efficient algorithm for the persistence operation of data routing is crucial due to the uniqueness and challenges of the aqueous medium of the underwater acoustic wireless sensor networks (UA-WSNs). The existing multi-hop algorithms have a high energy cost, data loss, and less [...] Read more.

An efficient algorithm for the persistence operation of data routing is crucial due to the uniqueness and challenges of the aqueous medium of the underwater acoustic wireless sensor networks (UA-WSNs). The existing multi-hop algorithms have a high energy cost, data loss, and less stability due to many forwarders for a single-packet delivery. In order to tackle these constraints and limitations, two algorithms using sink mobility and cooperative technique for UA-WSNs are devised. The first one is sink mobility for reliable and persistence operation (SiM-RPO) in UA-WSNs, and the second is the enhanced version of the SiM-RPO named CoSiM-RPO, which utilizes the cooperative technique for better exchanging of the information and minimizes data loss probability. To cover all of the network through mobile sinks (MSs), the division of the network into small portions is accomplished. The path pattern is determined for MSs in a manner to receive data even from a single node in the network. The MSs pick the data directly from the nodes and check them for the errors. When erroneous data are received at the MS, then the relay cooperates to receive correct data. The proposed algorithm boosts the network lifespan, throughput, delay, and stability more than the existing counterpart schemes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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11 pages, 4546 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design and Analysis of Two Piezoelectric Cymbal Transducers with Metal Ring and Add Mass

by Wenjie Wang, Weihao Shi, Peter Thomas and Mingsui Yang

Sensors 2019, 19(1), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19010137 - 2 Jan 2019

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4348

Abstract

Based on traditional sandwich structure, two piezoelectric transducers were designed to meet the strict underwater application backgrounds such as high pressure, corrosion resistance, and high strength. Both transducers integrated most of previous researches while one transducer has a multilayer cavity structure which is [...] Read more.

Based on traditional sandwich structure, two piezoelectric transducers were designed to meet the strict underwater application backgrounds such as high pressure, corrosion resistance, and high strength. Both transducers integrated most of previous researches while one transducer has a multilayer cavity structure which is different from the other structure and previous transducer structures. After a detailed simulation analysis of every structural parameter, key parameters were pointed out to have an obvious influence on its performance. Then, two models were constructed and compared with chosen sets of geometry parameters and manufacturing process, which can also provide a reference for low-frequency transducer design. The simulation results and experimental results of our transducers show a good consistency which indicates the cavity structure can reduce the resonance frequency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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24 pages, 8366 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Underwater Acoustic Target Recognition Based on Supervised Feature-Separation Algorithm

by Xiaoquan Ke, Fei Yuan and En Cheng

Sensors 2018, 18(12), 4318; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18124318 - 7 Dec 2018

Cited by 49 | Viewed by 5097

Abstract

For the purpose of improving the accuracy of underwater acoustic target recognition with only a small number of labeled data, we proposed a novel recognition method, including 4 steps: pre-processing, pre-training, fine-tuning and recognition. The 4 steps can be explained as follows: (1) [...] Read more.

For the purpose of improving the accuracy of underwater acoustic target recognition with only a small number of labeled data, we proposed a novel recognition method, including 4 steps: pre-processing, pre-training, fine-tuning and recognition. The 4 steps can be explained as follows: (1) Pre-processing with Resonance-based Sparsity Signal Decomposition (RSSD): RSSD was firstly utilized to extract high-resonance components from ship-radiated noise. The high-resonance components contain the major information for target recognition. (2) Pre-training with unsupervised feature-extraction: we proposed a one-dimensional convolution autoencoder-decoder model and then we pre-trained the model to extract features from the high-resonance components. (3) Fine-tuning with supervised feature-separation: a supervised feature-separation algorithm was proposed to fine-tune the model and separate the extracted features. (4) Recognition: classifiers were trained to recognize the separated features and complete the recognition mission. The unsupervised pre-training autoencoder-decoder can make good use of a large number of unlabeled data, so that only a small number of labeled data are required in the following supervised fine-tuning and recognition, which is quite effective when it is difficult to collect enough labeled data. The recognition experiments were all conducted on ship-radiated noise data recorded using a sensory hydrophone. By combining the 4 steps above, the proposed recognition method can achieve recognition accuracy of 93.28%, which sufficiently surpasses other traditional state-of-art feature-extraction methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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23 pages, 3804 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Adaptive Prediction Target Search Algorithm for Multi-AUVs in an Unknown 3D Environment

by Juan Li, Jianxin Zhang, Gengshi Zhang and Bingjian Zhang

Sensors 2018, 18(11), 3853; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18113853 - 9 Nov 2018

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3443

Abstract

For a target search of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in a completely unknown three-dimensional (3D) underwater environment, a multi-AUV collaborative target search algorithm based on adaptive prediction is proposed in this paper. The environmental information sensed by the forward-looking sonar is used to [...] Read more.

For a target search of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in a completely unknown three-dimensional (3D) underwater environment, a multi-AUV collaborative target search algorithm based on adaptive prediction is proposed in this paper. The environmental information sensed by the forward-looking sonar is used to judge the current state of view, and the AUV system uses this environmental information to perform the target search task. If there is no target in the field of view, the AUV system will judge whether all sub-regions of the current layer have been searched or not. The next sub-region for searching is determined by the evaluation function and the task assignment strategy. If there are targets in the field of view, the evaluation function and the estimation function of the adaptive predictive optimization algorithm is used to estimate the location of the unknown target. At the same time, the algorithm also can reduce the positioning error caused by the noise of the sonar sensor. In this paper, the simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can not only deal with static targets and random dynamic interference target search tasks, but it can also perform target search tasks under some random AUV failure conditions. In this process, the underwater communication limits are also considered. Finally, simulation experiments indicate the high efficiency and great adaptability of the proposed algorithm. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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27 pages, 9555 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Rule-Based Reasoner for Underwater Robots Using OWL and SWRL

by Zhaoyu Zhai, José-Fernán Martínez Ortega, Néstor Lucas Martínez and Pedro Castillejo

Sensors 2018, 18(10), 3481; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18103481 - 16 Oct 2018

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 5888

Abstract

Web Ontology Language (OWL) is designed to represent varied knowledge about things and the relationships of things. It is widely used to express complex models and address information heterogeneity of specific domains, such as underwater environments and robots. With the help of OWL, [...] Read more.

Web Ontology Language (OWL) is designed to represent varied knowledge about things and the relationships of things. It is widely used to express complex models and address information heterogeneity of specific domains, such as underwater environments and robots. With the help of OWL, heterogeneous underwater robots are able to cooperate with each other by exchanging information with the same meaning and robot operators can organize the coordination easier. However, OWL has expressivity limitations on representing general rules, especially the statement “If … Then … Else …”. Fortunately, the Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) has strong rule representation capabilities. In this paper, we propose a rule-based reasoner for inferring and providing query services based on OWL and SWRL. SWRL rules are directly inserted into the ontologies by several steps of model transformations instead of using a specific editor. In the verification experiments, the SWRL rules were successfully and efficiently inserted into the OWL-based ontologies, obtaining completely correct query results. This rule-based reasoner is a promising approach to increase the inference capability of ontology-based models and it achieves significant contributions when semantic queries are done. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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Review

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26 pages, 2378 KiB

Open AccessReview

Challenges, Threats, Security Issues and New Trends of Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

by Guang Yang, Lie Dai and Zhiqiang Wei

Sensors 2018, 18(11), 3907; https://doi.org/10.3390/s18113907 - 13 Nov 2018

Cited by 87 | Viewed by 12570

Abstract

With the advances in technology, there has been an increasing interest from researchers and industrial institutions in the use of underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs). Constrained by the open acoustic channel, harsh underwater environment, and their own particularities, UWSNs are vulnerable to a [...] Read more.

With the advances in technology, there has been an increasing interest from researchers and industrial institutions in the use of underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs). Constrained by the open acoustic channel, harsh underwater environment, and their own particularities, UWSNs are vulnerable to a wide class of security threats and malicious attacks. However, most existing research into UWSNs has not taken security into consideration. Moreover, the existing relatively mature security mechanisms for WSNs cannot be directly utilized in UWSNs. For these reasons, this article aims to present a comprehensive overview of the particularities, constraints, attacks, challenges and current security mechanisms of UWSNs. In addition, challenging, open and hot research topics are outlined. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Sensor Networks: Applications, Advances and Challenges)

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