Recent trends in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) – a systematic literature review

Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) is an emerging technology for the monitoring of aquatic assets and frequently applied in several domains like underwater information gathering, ocean sampling network, anonymous vehicles, disaster prevention and submarine detection. Recently, UWSNs have been getting significant attention of researchers from both academia and industry. As a result, several studies have been carried out to perform certain improvements in UWSNs techniques, tools, protocols and architectures. In this regard, there is a dire need to investigate and summarize the modern UWSNs trends altogether within a single study. To achieve this, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is performed in this article to comprehensively analyze the latest developments in UWSNs. Particularly, 34 research studies published during 2012-2020 have been selected and examined in the area of UWSNs. This leads to the identification of 21 modern routing protocols and 11 tools. Furthermore, 5 different architecture types and 3 communication media technologies are presented in the context of UWSNs. Finally, a comparative analysis of routing protocols is done on the basis of important evaluation metrics. It has been concluded that there exist adequate approaches, protocols and tools for the monitoring of UWSNs. However, the design verification capabilities of existing approaches are insufficient to meet the growing demands of UWSNs. The findings of this article provide solid platform to enhance the current UWSNs tools and techniques for large and complex networks.