Classification of Routing Algorithms in Volatile Environment of Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

The planet earth is basically a planet of water with less than 30% land mass available for humans to live on. However, the areas covered with water are important to mankind for the various resources which have been proven to be valuable. Such resources are gas, oil, marine products which can be used as food, and other minerals. In view of the vast area in which these resources can be found, a network of sensors is necessary so that they can be explored. However, sensor networks may not be helpful in the exploration of these resources if they do not have a sufficiently good routing mechanism. Over the past few decades, several methods for routing have been suggested to address the volatile environment in underwater communications. These continue researches; have enhanced the performance along with time. Meanwhile, there are still challenges to deal with for a better and efficient routing of data packets. Large end-to-end delays, high error channel rates, limited bandwidth, and the consumption of energy in sensor network are some such challenges. A comprehensive survey of the various routing methods for the partially connected underwater communication environment are presented in this paper.