Routing with Bridging Nodes for Drifting Mobility

ABSTRACT Drifting with oceanic current forces is an unique mobility pattern for the underwater sensor networks. The different current velocities at the different depth levels and the periodic velocities can impact the three dimensional network deployment greatly over time. One outcome of such impact is the disruption to the network connectivity. In this paper, a routing protocol that utilizes the bridging nodes is introduced to tackle the connectivity problem. The protocol bears features that explore the unique mobility pattern and geological structure to suppress transmission overhead and improve energy efficiency