| Summary: | The necessity to project naval combat power throughout the littorals has resulted in the explosion of growth in the development and implementation of wireless underwater networks. Contrary to the terrestrial wireless signal, which uses electromagnetic (radio) signals as a medium for the transfer of data, an underwater network utilizes acoustic signals to carry data. Additionally, unlike the terrestrial counterpart, the underwater acoustic network operates in a dynamic, ever changing environment that is susceptible to dramatic shifts in ocean water columns that are influenced by numerous parameters, e.g. === density, temperature, depth, and current. Couple this with the mechanical impediments of electronic equipment, operating in a waterborne environment, and the problems begin to multiply exponentially. This thesis presents a new, standardized application programming interface for the development of acoustic physics models and network protocol stacks that can be dynamically loaded into an underwater acoustic network simulator. The interface will meet the needs of the United States Navy, scientific organizations, and private parties, by providing a key building block of a robust, modular based simulation framework that will allow rapid and cost saving research and development and testing of underwater networking technologies.
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