Design of Sensor Nodes In Underwater Sensor Networks

Yu Yang, Zhang Xiaomin, Peng BO, Fu Yujing

College Of Marine Northwestern Polytechnical University Xian, China
AbstractSince the mid of 1990s, terrestrial wireless sensor network is developing quickly. However, constrained by certain characteristics of underwater acoustic channel such as limited available bandwidth and large propagation delays, which means development of underwater sensor networks, the extension of the concept of terrestrial wireless sensor network in ocean application, lags behind that of terrestrial wireless sensor network. Besides, due to the fact that the underwater instruments are usually battery-powered, and the power consumption of single node is directly relevant to the life of entire network, the design of low power architecture of nodes and energy-efficient MAC protocol are the highlight in recent research. This paper proposed a design of underwater acoustic network node with low power consumption. By using the Sleep/Wake operation mode, the average power dissipation of the node is reduced. And then based on software radio concept, the node project can achieve a better extent of application flexibility. A complete prototype has been tested in a anechoic pond, and the result shows the prototype has features of compact structure, reliable performance and low power consumption. Since the network node is the core section of underwater sensor networks, this design provides good platform for the research and verification of MAC layer of practical underwater sensor network. Index Termsunderwater sensor network, underwater acoustic communication network, MAC protocol, node of underwater sensor network

based upon S-MAC protocol was proposed in reference [2]. It work on sleep-wake mode, and keeps the synchronization of interception/emission among each node to reduce power consumption and avoid information collision. In addition, a new T-Lodi-MAC protocol is describe in reference [3], which also work on sleep-wake mode to reduce power consumption. But it required using a specific, ultra low power receiver to wake up the node. Reference [4] proposed a MAC protocol relied on distributed power control, which was able to improve transmission efficiency and eliminate the bad effect on throughput capacity caused by near-long effect in CDMA. Reference [5] proposes an ultra low power R-MAC protocol. However, most hardware architectures of sensor network node aimed at specific application [6] lack generality, and researchers lacked a unified platform to test the practical performance of MAC protocols of existing underwater sensor network. Although a method of using universal equipment to testify the performance of point to point communication within underwater sensor network was proposed in reference [7], the power consumption of it was a little more than that what researchers had expected. In this paper, new design architecture of low power underwater sensor network node is proposed. This design architecture, which is based on the concept of software radio technology, works on sleep-wake mode to ensure both generality and low power consumption. And it provides an appropriate hardware platform for future study on MAC protocol of underwater sensor network. II. THE ARCHITECTURE OF NETWORK NODE BASED ON
SOFTWARE RADIO TECHNOLOGY

I.

INTRODUCTION

Since the mid of 1990s, terrestrial wireless sensor network has being developing quickly. However constrained by certain characteristics of underwater acoustic channel such as limited available bandwidth and large propagation delays, the development of underwater sensor network, the extension of the concept of terrestrial wireless sensor network in ocean application [1], lags behind that of terrestrial wireless sensor network. Currently, the method of the media access control (MAC) of underwater sensor network is usually based on MACA protocol, the efficiency of which is relatively low, and ALOHA protocol, the reliability of which is insufficient to meet the practical needs. Besides in the case of heavy network load, the information collision aggravates, resulting in more power consumption and deterioration in network performance. Moreover, the ocean-bottom instruments are usually batterypowered, thus the power consumption of single node is directly relevant to the life of entire network so that the design of low power node architecture and low power MAC protocol are the highlight in recent research. A synchronous MAC protocol

As the basic unit of the underwater sensor network, the effectiveness and stability of network node are one of the prerequisites to the reliability of entire network. However, the variety of node structures in various applications results in several problems that should be carefully considered in the design of node architecture, including the increase in the cost of single node, the loss of the generality, the maintenance, and reliability. It was the development of software radio technology that successfully solved these problems. The primary concept of software radio is to take full advantage of digital and software techniques to achieve various hardware functions based on a unified hardware platform. Therefore, various hardware functions can be realized simply by applying different software function module on a unified hardware platform. According to the concept mentioned above, the architecture of node can be obtained, as what is shown in Fig 1.

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Figure 1. Architecture of Node

Similar to the basic structure of software system, the node architecture is composed of sensor module, communication receiver, A/D converter, digital processor, D/A converter, and communication transmitter. The sensor module is responsible for digitalization of interested physical signal; the A/D and communication receiver are used to pre-process the signal and convert the analog signal into digital signal which can be sent to digital processor for further processing; the function of transmitter and D/A converter is to complete D/A conversion of communication digital signal and transmit such converted signal. The kernel of entire node is digital processor which is responsible for managing the working procedure of the node, sampling the data from sensor, processing MAC protocol, as well as modulating and demodulating the communication signal. III. HARDWARE SCHEME OF NODE For the purpose of low power consumption, it is completely necessary to select low power consumption devices based on the architecture stated above. However, what is more important is to select a suitable node operation system so that an operation mode called sleep wake is applied in the design of hardware. In this way, each module within the node is on the wake state and the power consumption reaches the maximum to complete the real-time processing task that is needed during the period of data receiving and transmitting, while some modules are on the sleep state to reach minimum power consumption in the interval of data receiving/transmitting. The transition between working state and sleeping state can be achieved by using interruption within the node or external trigger signal. Fig 2 shows the overall hardware scheme of the node.

A. Design of pre-channel module The pre-channel module in this system consists of 5 parts including transducer, pre-amplifier, band-pass filter, AGC control, and cymoscope to accomplish a series of preprocessing tasks such as amplifying and filtering. Considering the limited dynamic range of A/D converter, 4 channels receiver with a difference of 20dB amplification gain between adjacent channels is designed. The pre-amplifier is composed of precision, high-speed, low-power operational amplifiersTLE2021. In order to inhibit the interference signals outside the band and to improve the convenience of further development, a continuous-time active filter MAX275 is applied rather than a switched capacitor filter the clock signal of which may induce severe interference to the entire system. Besides the continuous-time active filter MAX275 also provides lots of convenience for developing, since it is only required to change the resistors for the purpose of changing operation band. The cymoscope is used to wake up the node. When communication signal, which is within the band occurs, the output level of cymoscope module increases, generating an interruption signal through comparator, and waking up the data processing module from sleeping state. B. Design of digital processing module Digital processing module that is responsible for control of entire node communication, data sampling, communication protocol processing, and system management is the most important part of entire network node. In the view of stability and reducing power consumption, our design is based upon ultra low power MCU-MSP430F1611 and low power DSPTMS320VC5509A, both of which have been widely applied in the field of signal processing. In our design, the A/D module is integrated in the digital processing module, which simplifies the interface between digital processing module and prechannel module, and reduces the possible interference to the analog sub-system induced by digital sub-system. In addition, a 4 analog input simultaneous sampling ADC whose sampling rate is ranged from 25 KHz to 1.5 MHz is selected as A/D module to meet the needs of underwater acoustic communication sampling. Further more, we choose multichannel simultaneous DDS-AD9959, the application of which can not only realize the general modulation methods used in underwater acoustic communication such as FSK, PSK, QAM, but also reduce the complexity and cost of software and hardware, to replace D/A module. Fig 3 shows the hardware scheme of digital processing module. While the MCU is applied to be in charge of the control of operation schedule of entire node, the control of power up of each module, as well as the transition between each operation state, the high speed DSP device is responsible for the modulation and demodulation of communication signal and MAC protocol processing. Moreover, different time frequency can be selected through software in different application for the purpose of reducing power consumption.

Figure 2. Hardware scheme

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power efficiency of which reaches 78.5% in theory, while the main advantage of latter is its much higher power efficiency. Actually, the power efficiency of wide band Class D power amplifier can reach 100% in theory no matter how much the output power is. However, in order to shorten the exploration period and reduce cost, a design of Class B power amplifier is applied in practical. The transistor device, the power capacity and the transient response of which are within those of IGBT and MOSFET, is selected as power device for the purpose of improving the reliability and maintainability. IV.
Figure 3. Hardware Scheme of Digital Processing Module

TESTING RESULTS IN ANECHOIC POND

The operation flow of digital processing is shown in Fig 4. When the system is under sleep state, MCU and DSP are in a state of deep sleep, the power of which reduces to 2W (25oC) and 120W (25oC) respectively in theory, and the RTC, DDS and A/D converter is in the state off-power so that the total power consumption of entire system at this time is only 122W in theory.

After completing the hardware debugging of the principle prototype of underwater sensor network node, we testify the entire prototype system in anechoic pond in college of marine NWPU. Fig 5 and Fig 6 shows the prototype of system. Fig 7 shows the experiment site.

Figure 5. Electronic System of Prototype

Figure 4. Operation Procedure of Digital Processing Module

C. Design of transmitter module The transmitter module consists of power amplifier and transducer. In order to satisfy the needs of short distance communication and long distance communication, a design of linear power amplifier with 60dB dynamic range is used so as to regulate the transmitting power conveniently and rapidly. There are two kinds of linear power amplifiers, Class B power amplifier and wide band Class D power amplifier, which can be used in our design. The former one is a traditional widely used power amplifier whose efficiency is low in the low power state and high in the high power state, and the maximum
Figure 6. Prototype System

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The width of trigger pulse is 5ms, and the modulated frequency is 10 KHz.

Figure 7. Locale of Experiment

Figure 9. Calibration of Receiver

Our experiment apparatus were composed of a B&K 8102 standard hydrophone, a B&K 2690conditioning amplifier, a Tektronix TDS3000 4 channel digital scope, a Tektronix AFG waveform generator, a PA100 power amplifier and 2 transducers. The arrangement of experimental site is shown in Fig 8. The depth of pond is 7.5m. The transducer A, standard hydrophone, and transducer B were placed at the interval of every 1 meter, and all of them were placed in the depth of 2 meters.

Figure 10. Calibration of Transmitter

Figure 8. Arrangement of Experiment Locale

Fig 11 shows the trigger pulse and the answer pulse received by B&K2690. The time interval between trigger pulse and answer pulse was about 6ms. Except the sampling time which is 5 ms, the time used for algorithm is 1ms. The width of answer pulse is 5ms the same as trigger pulse, and the source level of it is approximate to that of trigger signal.

Before carrying out our test, we used standard hydrophone to calibrate the source level of transmitter module and prechannel module and the result is shown in Fig 9 and Fig 10. Then a series of tests were conducted to inspect the function of node under sleep-wake mode. After powered up, the system was in the state of sleep that meant only the pre-channel module was in the wake state. And then, a series of short time pulse modulated by certain frequency of cosine signal was transmitted to wake up the node. After being waken up, the DSP module of node was started to compute the pulse width, sound source level and frequency of the pulse signal. After that with reference to the results of DSP processing, an answer pulse with same pulse width, frequency and source level was generated by DDS, and transmitted by transmitter, at the same time the results were transmitted to computer through the serial interface of MCU. In our system, the main algorithm we apply is 2048 points of FFT. The frequency of the DSP clock is 120MHz, and the sampling rate of A/D converter is 30 KHz.

Figure 11. Screen Capture of TDS3104

As for the power consumption, while the system works in sleep state, the power consumption of pre-channel module is

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90mW, the power consumption of digital processing module is 0.14mW, and the total power consumption of the system is 91mW; and when the node works on wake state and transmitter works with its maximum power, the power consumption of entire system is 65.7W including 90mW cost by pre-channel module and 589mW cost by digital processing module. These results reveal that this hardware platform of network node can work on the mode of sleep-wake reliably, and reach the design indexes which are listed below: 1) Sensitivity of receiver: 25uV; 2) Dynamic range of receiver: 60dB; 3) Output power of transmitter: 0-65W, continuously adjustable; 4) Dynamic range of transmitter: 60dB; 5) Operation band: 8KHz~12KHz; 6) Attenuation in stopband: 30dB; 7) Pass-band ripple of receiver: 0.5dB; 8) Pass-band ripple of transmitter: 2dB; 9) Power consumption of receiver: 90mW in sleeping mode; 90mW in working mode; 10) Power consumption of digital processing module: 0.122mW in sleeping mode; 600mW in working mode; 11) Power consumption of transmitter: 0W in sleeping mode(off the power); 65W in the working mode The test shows the prototype has features of compact structure, reliable performance and low power consumption. However, compared with existing system in reference, the prototype seems to be larger in volume and lower in power efficiency especially when it is used to transmit small power, since a Class B power amplifier is applied in the system design. In future work, an appropriate Class D power amplifier will be selected according to the experimental results to improve the power efficiency of the system. V. CONCLUSION As the fundamental unit of sensor network, the performance of the sensor nodes is directly related to the performance of sensor network. Based on software radio technology, a new

architecture, which can not only simplify hardware structure but also improve the generality of the hardware platform, is proposed in this paper. Due to the application of low power consumption devices and sleep-wake mode, the power consumption of single node is effectively reduced. According to the final testing result, the power consumption of transmitter is the main factor affecting the reduction of the power consumption of entire system. Actually, the efficiency of transmitting transducer is about 40%; therefore a wide band Class D power amplifier can be used as transmitter to further reduce power consumption. Besides, for the purpose of generality, we choose programmable active filter for prechannel filtering. If the operation band can be fixed, a passive filter which costs little power can be used for pre-channel filtering, and the power consumption of node in sleep mode can be reduced to 10mW below. REFERENCES
[1] J.Heidemann, Wei Ye, J.Wills, A.Syed, Yuan Li, Research challenges and applications for underwater sensor networking, Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, 2006 Volume 1, PP. 228 - 235 Min Kyoung Park, V.Rodoplu, UWAN-MAC: An Energy-Efficient MAC Protocol for Underwater Acoustic Wireless Sensor Networks, Oceanic Engineering, Volume 32, Issue 3, July 2007, PP. 710 - 720 A.A.Syed, Wei Ye, J.Heidemann, T-Lohi: A New Class of MAC Protocols for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks, INFOCOM 2008. The 27th Conference on Computer Communications, April 2008, PP. 231 - 235 P.Casari, F.E.Lapiccirella, M.Zorzi, A Detailed Simulation Study of the UWAN-MAC Protocol for Underwater Acoustic Networks, Oceans 2007 Sept. 29 2007-Oct. 4 2007, PP. 1 - 6 Peng Xie,Jun-Hong Cui, R-MAC: An Energy-Efficient MAC Protocol for Underwater Sensor Networks, Wireless Algorithms, Systems and Applications, 2007. WASA 2007. International Conference Aug. 2007, PP. 187 - 198 WHOI, Micro-Modem Overview, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, http://acomms.whoi.edu/micromodem/ R.Jurdak, C.V.Lopes, P.Baldi, Software Acoustic Modems for Short Range Mote-based Underwater Sensor Networks, OCEANS 2006-Asia Pacific 16-19 May 2007, PP. 1 - 7

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