D'Orey, PedroGutiérrez Gaitán, MiguelSantos, Pedro MiguelRibeiro, ManuelSousa, J. Borges deAlmeida, Luís2024-09-132024-09-132024Pedro M. d’Orey, Miguel Gutiérrez Gaitán, Pedro M. Santos, Manuel Ribeiro, João Borges de Sousa, Luís Almeida, Assessing Short-range Shore-to-Shore (S2S) and Shore-to-Vessel (S2V) WiFi Communications, Computer Networks, Volume 249, 2024, 110505, ISSN 1389-1286, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2024.110505.http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/26000This work is a result of the project Route 25 [ref. TRB/2022/00061 - C645463824-00000063], funded by the EU/Next Generation, within call N.°02/C05-i01/2022 of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). This work was also supported by national funds through the FCT/MCTES, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, within the CISTER, ISEP/IPP Research Unit [UIDP/UIDB/04234/2020]. This work was also partially funded by the project FONDECYT INICIACION 11241221.Wireless communications increasingly enable ubiquitous connectivity for a large number of nodes, applications and scenarios. One of the less explored scenarios are aquatic ecosystems, specially when enabled by near-shore and short-range communications. Overwater communications are impaired by a number of distinguishing dynamic factors, such as tides, waves or node mobility, that lead to a widely fluctuating and unpredictable channel. In this work, we empirically characterize near-shore, overwater channels at 2.4 GHz under realistic conditions, including tidal variations, and relatively short TX-RX separations. To this end, we conducted experiments in a coastal estuarine region and on a harbor to characterize Shore-to-Shore (S2S) and Shore-to-Vessel (S2V) communication channels, respectively, and to identify major factors impairing communication in such scenarios. The empirical results show that constructive/destructive interference patterns, varying reflecting surface, and node mobility (i.e. travel direction and particular maneuvers) have a relevant and noticeable impact on the received signal strength. Thus, a set of parameters should be simultaneously considered for improving the performance of communication systems supporting S2S and S2V links, namely tidal variations, reflection surface changes, antenna height, TX-RX alignment and TX-RX separation. The results useful provide insights into realistic S2S and S2V link design and operation.engOverwater communicationsMobilityShore-to-Shore (S2S)Shore-to-Vessel (S2V)Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)Tidal fadingTwo-ray modelIEEE802.11Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)Tidal fadingTwo-ray modeljournal article10.1016/j.comnet.2024.110505