Effect of environment and modem parameters on hybrid underwater wireless sensor network performance

This study presents a novel stochastic framework for optimizing hybrid underwater wireless acoustic sensor networks (UWASNs) with mobile gateways. Unlike conventional deterministic connectivity models based solely on signal-to-noise ratio thresholds, the proposed approach introduces a comprehensive network stochastic metric that accounts for packet retransmission probability and channel reliability under Rayleigh fading conditions. The framework systematically analyzes the joint influence of three critical parameter classes on network performance: environmental and modem parameters including carrier frequency, sensor spacing, signal-to-noise ratio, and bandwidth; MAC protocol parameters, specifically the maximum allowable retransmissions and network topology parameters, including reference node placement and cluster configuration. The key innovation lies in deriving analytical reliability curves that enable simultaneous optimization of packet loss ratio and energy consumption across different network scales. Numerical results demonstrate that achieving 95% transmission reliability requires co-design of frequency selection, retransmission limits, and topology configuration rather than isolated parameter tuning.