Deployment framework for mobile underwater wireless networks with node reuse

A mobile underwater wireless sensor network is a system of mobile underwater sensors which are acoustically networked. Existing ocean studies using independent mobile sensors have led to many interesting discoveries. Therefore, the networking capability will extend the capability of existing approaches and enable novel applications because it provides more control and coordination of the sensors. However, network mobility and environment uncertainty create numerous challenging issues which need to be addressed before such a paradigm becomes reality. Network deployment is among the most important problems because it has a significant impact on other research areas. In this paper, we consider the reuse-based deployment scheme in which a mobile underwater sensor network operates in a bounded area and a sensor, when reaching beyond the area, is deployed back into it. We propose a deployment framework to study the connectivity and coverage of such networks and show its effectiveness through two case studies. Our framework is based on the idea that the reuse of network nodes stabilizes these network metrics. By modeling them, we can estimate the number of nodes needed to achieve a requirement on network coverage or network connectivity only by solving algebraic equations rather than running more simulations.