An underwater wireless group-based sensor network for marine fish farms sustainability monitoring

One of the main problems in marine fish farms sustainability is the amount of uneaten feed and fecal waste dispersed and deposited on the seabed under the cages. It damages the fauna and flora, and decreases the economic benefits because the wastage of the uneaten food. Several country governments and international associations have published laws and rules about the maximum permitted pollution on the seabed in order to avoid having high impact on the environment. In this paper, we propose an underwater wireless group-based sensor network in order to quantify and monitor the accurate amount of pollution that is deposited on the seabed. First, we present an analytical model and study the best location to place the sensor nodes. The mobility of the nodes and the group-based protocol operation is described. Our wireless group-based sensor network proposal is able to determine the amount of food that is wasted while it measures the amount of deposits generated. This data can be used to compute and estimate more accurately the amount of food that should be thrown into the cage. Finally, several simulations are presented in order to show the network traffic and to verify the correct operation of the wireless sensor system.