Requirements of an underwater sensor-networking platform for environmental monitoring

Wireless sensor networks have thrived over recent years, with conventional wireless sensor networks becoming an ever-growing area of research. However, underwater wireless sensor networks are underdeveloped in comparison with wireless sensor networks. This paper looks at several important considerations for wireless sensor networks and underwater sensor networking platform targeted at environmental monitoring. Many requirements are transferable from conventional wireless sensor networks and this paper looks at how these challenges have been tackled. However, considerations such as energy efficiency hold a greater weight where sensor nodes are more difficult to retrieve, consideration must also be given to other factors such as the impact of communication technologies, communication distances, data rates and ease of deployment.