HydroNode: A low cost, energy efficient, multi purpose node for underwater sensor networks

Abstract

The research of underwater sensor networks (UWSNs) is gaining attention due to its possible applications in many scenarios, such as ecosystem preservation, disaster prevention, oil and gas exploration and freshwater reservoirs management. The main elements of a UWSN are underwater sensor nodes (UWNs). In this paper we present HydroNode: a low cost, energy efficient, multipurpose underwater sensor node (UWN). Nowadays, to the best of our knowledge, there is no UWNs that is simultaneously low cost, low power, able to couple diverse types of sensors and educationally available. Thus, the objective of this paper is to fill this gap by describing the design of HydroNode, an underwater sensor node that fulfill all these requirements and can be used in various UWSNs applications. We used only commercial off-the-shelf components to build our underwater sensor node. Due to its multipurpose design, HydroNode can be used in different UWSNs, therefore aiding the research of UWSN system protocols, configurations and applications.