Abstract:

Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) can transport and manage information in a specific range and become a key route to achieve underwater applications such as ocean data acquisition, pollution monitoring and military reconnaissance. However, the underwater acoustic channel is labeled with some inherent characteristics such as space time frequency variable parameters, narrow band, high noise and long time delay, posing a huge challenge in structuring robust UASNs. Digital fountain codes-based data transmission paradigm obviates the need for ordered data and simplifies data delivery as a result, making fountain codes a kind of efficient coding technique applied to reliable communication in UASNs. This paper surveys the algorithm theory and research status of fountain codes, discusses its applications in UASNs and makes prospect of fountain codes on research directions and potential applications in UASNs in the end.