An Energy-Efficient Routing Void Repair Method Based on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for UWSNs

Aiming at the problem of routing voids in underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) routing, we propose an energy-efficient routing void repair method (this method is called (EERVRM) based on autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for UWSNs. First, we identify void nodes and trap nodes through a void detection mechanism, which allows EERVRM to discover the routing void before data transmission. Then, an AUV designs the trajectory of each round according to the location of the routing voids and collects data directly from the nodes near the trajectory. The nodes that are farther from the AUV transmit data through an opportunistic routing strategy so that EERVRM can adapt to the dynamic changes in the network and repair the network void. Simulation results show that EERVRM can effectively solve routing void problems, ensure a stable transmission rate. Compared with VAPR and GEDAR, as the number of nodes increases, the average end-to-end delay of EERVRM decreased by 0.29 and 0.13, and the packet delivery ratio (PDR) increased by 0.25 and 0.1, respectively.