“…Communication Model: We also assume that a) the UWAN nodes can estimate the retransmission delay introduced by their modem; 1 b) at least Alice and Bob are time synchronized, e.g., as a result of running an underwater time synchronization scheme (e.g., [33], [34]), but a later discussion on how to relax this assumption follows; and c) an underlying link-level protocol ensures correct packet reception, e.g., via automatic repeat queries (ARQ), whose delay can be determined by each receiver. In particular, we consider underlying medium access control (MAC) and network protocols that combat packet loss through packet re-transmission and forwarding, respectively.…”