The NAUTILUS project: Physical parameters, architectures and network scenarios

The NAUTILUS (Network Architecture and protocols for Underwater Telerobotics via acoustIc Links in Ubiquitous Sensing, monitoring and explorations) project aims at providing a comprehensive study of the technical issues related to the realization of a complete solution for the network architecture and the communications protocols needed for the tele-operation of underwater robots. When pursuing this goal, the need to implement realistic scenarios for underwater simulations clearly emerges. In this paper, starting from the investigation on the state-of-the-art carried out for the NAUTILUS project,we list the main concepts and parameters that underlie realistic simulations of underwater scenarios. Also, we present and thoroughly discuss the choices made in terms of parameters, network architectures and models for the NAUTILUS project itself. We believe that the information collected in this paper provides a good starting point for the development of a realistic underwater performance evaluation tool.