Outage Probability of a Multisensor Mixed UOWC–FSO Setup

The performance of a network consisting of several underwater sensors communicating with a terrestrial destination is studied for the first time in terms of the outage probability. In the scenario under consideration, K sensors emit data to a decode-and-forward relay using underwater optical wireless communication links. The relay transfers the Nth best signal to the terrestrial destination by using a free-space optical link. Weak oceanic and atmospheric turbulence conditions are taken into account. Appropriate numerical results are provided in order to verify the derived analytical expression. The proposed setup is adequate to reliably transfer subaquatic data to large distances without expensive and complicated networking infrastructures.