Toward Energy Efficient Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks: A Daoist Philosophical Study & Framework

Abstract

Abstract: Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) undergo ocean surveillance, disaster prediction, seismic monitoring, and marine environmental sensing, still they have so many constraints like limited acoustic bandwidth, high propagation delay, node mobility caused by water currents, and—most critically—the practical impossible recharging or replacement of the battery nodes. Traditionally, conventional energy efficient routing and clustering protocols have addressed these constraints through engineering-based heuristics such as depth-based forwarding, clustering and meta-heuristic optimizations. However, traditional energy efficient mechanisms treat energy efficiency merely as an engineering optimization process and ignore the fundamental aspects of energy management. In this paper, we propose a novel cross-disciplinary approach where we embed the basic concepts of classic Daoist philosophy specifically, Wu Wei (non-forcing action), Yin-Yang (balance between complementary forces) and Ziran (self-so ness/self-organization) in the design of energy efficient routing and duty-cycling techniques in UWSNs. We provide a computable definition to these philosophical terms as follows: Wu Wei based forwarding mechanism (minimal intervention forwarding where relay nodes use Wu Wei principles for avoiding any unnecessary forcing of transmission), Yin Yang energy balancing (balanced state between active sensing/transmitting ‘Yang’ nodes and dormant conserving ‘Yin’ nodes) and Ziran based self-organizing clusters (self-organizing process of cluster head formation and rotation). In addition to this, we develop and evaluate a Wu Wei – Yin-Yang based adaptive routing (WYAR) protocol against traditional energy aware UWSN benchmarks (LEACH, depth based and AUV assisted clustering based) using discrete event simulation. The research provides a methodological framework that can be adopted to other resource-limited and decentralized wireless systems, while at the same time advocating Eastern philosophy of systems as an underutilized yet legitimate approach towards sustainable network design.