Performance Analysis of Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks With Buffer Constraint

The design and performance analysis of underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) have attracted intensive attention. In this study, we present a theoretical framework to evaluate the performances of UASNs. In contrast to existing methods, we applied a new communication protocol model to characterize the channel interference by taking into account the unique characteristics of underwater acoustic channels, namely, the concurrent transmission opportunities owing to the large propagation delays of acoustic signals. Using the communication protocol model, we investigated the collision regions of a communication pair and then derived a closed-form expression for the successful packet transmission probability. Moreover, we considered practical networks where each node is equipped with a limited data buffer to store its generated packets. Using collision analysis and a stationary buffer distribution, we derived the closed-form expression of system performance in terms of the throughput and the packet queue delay. Finally, we validated the accuracy of our analysis via extensive simulation results. The impacts of various network parameters on the system performance are also evaluated.