Abstract
Conference Title: 2018 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC) Conference Start Date: 2018, April 15 Conference End Date: 2018, April 18 Conference Location: Barcelona, Spain Underwater optical wireless networks (UOWNs) have recently gained attention as an emerging solution to the growing demand for broadband connectivity. Even though it is an alternative to low-bandwidth and high-latency acoustic systems, underwater optical wireless communications (UOWC) suffers from limited range and requires effective multi-hop solutions. Therefore, this paper analyzes and compares the performance of multihop underwater optical wireless networks under two relaying schemes: Decode & Forward (DF) and Amplify & Forward (AF). Noting that nodes close to the surface sink (SS) are required to relay more information, these nodes are enabled for retro-reflective communication, where SS illuminates these nodes with a continuous-wave beam which is then modulated and reflected back to the SS receivers. Accordingly, we analytically evaluate important performance metrics including end-to-end bit error rate, achievable multihop data rates, and communication ranges between node pairs. Thereafter, we develop routing algorithms for DF and AF schemes in order to maximize the end-to-end performance metrics. Numerical results demonstrate that multi-hop transmission can significantly enhance the network performance and expand the communication range.