The DESERT underwater framework v2: Improved capabilities and extension tools

Abstract

The DESERT Underwater emulation system (http://nautilus.dei.unipd.it/desert-underwater), originally designed for testing underwater acoustic networks, has been recently extended. The new framework now includes multi-modal communication functionalities encompassing low rate and high rate acoustics as well as optics, the capability of testing wireless telemetry for underwater equipment, a connection to the most recent version of the World Ocean Simulation System (WOSS), a modification to the RECORDS system for sea trial remote control, and an interface between external tools, e.g., Matlab, and the EvoLogics modem. In addition, experimental activities are now supported by an accurate real-time event scheduler which has been shown to support, among others, long experiments involving time-division multiple-access (TDMA)-based MAC protocols. These additional protocol schemes from the MAC to the application layer (most of which have been tested in controlled environments and sea trials) now make DESERT Underwater a comprehensive tool for underwater network simulation and experimentation. In this paper, we present the new functionalities developed over the last two years.

Wireless Remote Control for Underwater Vehicles

“…Both the control station and HROV were equipped with MF, HF acoustic, and optical modems, while the acoustic relays were equipped only with MF acoustic modems. All simulations were performed with the DESERT Underwater [117] simulation framework. As presented in Section 2.4, we selected the BlueComm 200 optical modem, Subnero WNC, and the EvoLogics S2C HS communication devices; therefore, the simulations were configured according to the modem specifications, as will be presented later in this section and is summarized in Table 5.…”

Channel Modeling for Underwater Acoustic Network Simulation

“…There are also multiple UAN simulation suites that focus on providing a seamless transition between testing the network performance in simulation and testing the developed protocols at sea using real hardware. Two notable examples of such simulation suites are DESERT [23] [49] and SUNSET [24]. Both of these simulators are based on the ns2-MIRACLE network simulation platform and both have been verified to successfully facilitate the transition from simulation to at-sea testing using real acoustic modems [47] [24]; however, an investigation by Petroccia and Spaccini [41] showed that SUNSET provides a more mature and efficient solution for transitioning from simulation to real-time at-sea implementation.…”

Channel Modeling for Underwater Acoustic Network Simulation

“…There are also multiple UAN simulation suites that focus on providing a seamless transition between testing the network performance in simulation and testing the developed protocols at sea using real hardware. Two notable examples of such simulation suites are DESERT [23] [46] and SUNSET [24]. Both of these simulators are based on the ns2-MIRACLE network simulation platform and both have been verified to successfully facilitate the transition from simulation to at-sea testing using real acoustic modems [44] [24]; however, an investigation by Petroccia and Spaccini [34] showed that SUNSET provides a more mature and efficient solution for transitioning from simulation to real-time at-sea implementation.…”