title: Underwater Electromagnetic Sensor Networks-Part I: Link Characterization.
abstract: Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) using electromagnetic (EM) technology in marine shallow waters are examined, not just for environmental monitoring but for further interesting applications. Particularly, the use of EM waves is reconsidered in shallow waters due to the benefits offered in this context, where acoustic and optical technologies have serious disadvantages. Sea water scenario is a harsh environment for radiocommunications, and there is no standard model for the underwater EM channel. The high conductivity of sea water, the effect of seabed and the surface make the behaviour of the channel hard to predict. This justifies the need of link characterization as the first step to approach the development of EM underwater sensor networks. To obtain a reliable link model, measurements and simulations are required. The measuring setup for this purpose is explained and described, as well as the procedures used. Several antennas have been designed and tested in low frequency bands. Agreement between attenuation measurements and simulations at different distances was analysed and made possible the validation of simulation setups and the design of different communications layers of the system. This leads to the second step of this work, where data and routing protocols for the sensor network are examined.
authors.affiliation: Instituto para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación en Comunicaciones (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas, Spain. santiago@gaps.ssr.upm.es.
authors.forename: Gara
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Quintana-Díaz
authors.affiliation: Instituto para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación en Comunicaciones (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas, Spain. pmena@idetic.eu.|Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación (ETSIT) - C-303, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Av. Complutense 30, 28040 Madrid, Spain. pmena@idetic.eu.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mena-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Instituto para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación en Comunicaciones (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas, Spain. ivan.perez@ulpgc.es.
authors.forename: Iván
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pérez-Álvarez
authors.affiliation: Instituto para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación en Comunicaciones (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas, Spain. eugenio.jimenez@ulpgc.es.
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.affiliation: Instituto para el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación en Comunicaciones (IDeTIC), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), 35017 Las Palmas, Spain. pablo.dortanaranjo@ulpgc.es.
authors.forename: Blas-Pablo
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Dorta-Naranjo
authors.affiliation: Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación (ETSIT) - C-303, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Av. Complutense 30, 28040 Madrid, Spain. santiago@gaps.ssr.upm.es.
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zazo
authors.affiliation: Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación (ETSIT) - C-303, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Av. Complutense 30, 28040 Madrid, Spain. marina.perez@isom.upm.es.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.affiliation: Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias (PLOCAN), 35214 Telde, Spain. eduardo.quevedo@plocan.eu.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quevedo
authors.affiliation: Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias (PLOCAN), 35214 Telde, Spain. laura.cardona@plocan.eu.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cardona
authors.affiliation: Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias (PLOCAN), 35214 Telde, Spain. joaquin.brito@plocan.eu.
authors.forename: J Joaquín
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hernández
keywords: antennas; electromagnetic; measurements; sea water; simulations; testbed; underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs)