Abstract—The medium access control (MAC) protocol design of underwater acoustic sensor networks (UWASNs) faces many challenges: the power limitation at nodes, long propagation delay, low data rates, etc. These challenges of underwater acoustic channels result in the unsuitable usage of terrestrial networks MAC protocol in UWASNs. Moreover, the long propagation delay causes a serious problem for the MAC protocol. In this paper, we propose a new MACA-based MAC protocol with delay tolerant (MACA-DT). It is shown that by using adaptive silent time and simultaneous handshake technique, MACA-DT protocol can improve the channel utilization and alleviate the long end-to-end delay. Simulation results show that our protocol can significantly improves the network throughput and decreases the end-to-end delay when compared with traditional MACA protocols.

Index Terms—Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks, MACA protocol, Medium Access Control

Cite: Wen Lin, En Cheng, and Fei Yuan, "A MACA-based MAC protocol for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks ," Journal of Communications, vol. 6, no.2, pp.179-184, 2011. Doi: 10.4304/jcm.6.2.179-184