Underwater Optical Wireless Networks: A k-Connectivity Analysis

In this paper, optical wireless has been addressed as a promising technology to provide high-bandwidth services for underwater communications. However, the significant attenuation degree due to high absorption and scattering of optical transmission in the water confines the achievable range of optical links to only few meters. One way to achieve transmission at long distances is to employ a dense network configuration where information can be transferred through a series of intermediate nodes acting as relays. In this study, we consider optical wireless network arrangements where nodes are floating at different depths into a service aquatic medium. We deploy an effective path loss model which incorporates the key factors that deteriorate the optical power, and we derive the achievable transmission range to satisfy connectivity criteria assuming intensity-modulation direct detection (IM/DD) with ON-OFF keying (OOK). A set of numerical results is presented in order to reveal the interaction between various parameters such as error probability, wavelength, node density, transmitted power, data rate, etc., in order to achieve k-connectivity. The proposed analysis could be the basis of deploying reliable underwater optical networks suitable to deliver broadband services at far distances.