Investigating and safeguarding our oceans is vital for a host of applications and tasks, including combating climate change, ensuring the integrity of subsea infrastructures, and for coastal protection. Achieving these essential functions depends on the deployment of cost-effective, versatile underwater sensor networks that can efficiently collect and transmit data to land. However, the success of such networks is currently hindered by the significant limitations of existing underwater modems, which limits their operational use to a narrow range of applications. This paper presents and evaluates the performance of the SEANet software-defined networking platform, for the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT), addressing the limitations of existing underwater communication technologies. It presents the development and comprehensive testing of an adaptable, high-data-rate, and integration-friendly underwater platform that reconfigures in real-time to meet the demands of various marine applications. With an acoustic front end, the platform significantly outperforms conventional modems, achieving more than double the data rate at 150 kbit/s. Experiments conducted in oceanic conditions demonstrate its capabilities in channel characterization, OFDM link establishment, and compatibility with the JANUS communication standard. Our platform advances the IoUT by providing a versatile, scalable solution that can incorporate multiple physical layers and support an array of tasks, making it pivotal for real-time ocean data analysis and the expansion of ocean-related digital applications.

翻译：探究和保护海洋对于应对气候变化、保障海底基础设施完整性以及海岸防护等诸多应用和任务至关重要。实现这些关键功能依赖于部署经济高效、灵活通用的水下传感器网络，使其能够高效采集数据并传输至陆地。然而，现有水下调制解调器的显著局限性制约了此类网络的成效，导致其仅适用于狭窄的应用场景。本文介绍并评估了面向水下物联网（IoUT）的SEANet软件定义网络平台性能，旨在解决现有水下通信技术的局限性。该平台具备可重构、高数据速率及易于集成的特性，可实时调整以适应多种海洋应用需求。通过声学前端设计，该平台在150千比特/秒的数据速率下比传统调制解调器提升一倍以上性能。海洋环境实验验证了其信道表征、OFDM链路建立以及与JANUS通信标准兼容的能力。该平台通过提供支持多物理层并承载多样化任务的灵活可扩展方案，推动了水下物联网发展，对实时海洋数据分析及海洋数字应用拓展具有关键意义。