Internet of Underwater Things: Challenges and Applications

The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) is a worldwide network of smart interconnected underwater objects monitoring vast unexplored water areas. It is an innovative and intriguing idea for the blue economy sector. It brings the capacity to communicate with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), sense, actuate, and transfer data to control centers at regular internet speeds with affordable technologies. The concept of IoUt has gained much importance since the Earth is covered with water, over 71% in the form of oceans, seas, canals, and rivers. Also, there is a huge number of unexploited resources that lie underwater. To support a wide range of applications that include real-time aquatic information, military applications, oil and gas exploration, water contamination, diver networks monitoring, early warning system, and smart ocean, the IoUT has evolved as a powerful technology. This paper presents an overview of the Internet of Underwater Things, its communication trends, challenges, and applications.