In recent years, the exploration of underwater environments has seen a significant rise in research focus, particularly in the context of the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT). This has led to the development of underwater things, which enable the examination and monitoring of previously unknown underwater exploration cases. However, these networks face several challenges, including the inefficiency of the underwater communication channel in terms of delay, reliability, and throughput, as well as the energy management of sensor nodes due to their reliance on batteries. Addressing these challenges is crucial for the implementation of suitable routing methods. This paper presents a novel end-to-end routing protocol that is both reliable and energy-aware, leveraging concepts of Fog computing and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) capabilities. The proposed method involves the collection of information related to underwater nodes by the network controller at different time intervals, enabling the calculation of the optimal path in terms of reliability and energy between underwater senders and Fog nodes. Subsequently, optimal paths are announced to underwater nodes, and data packets are exchanged between them and Fog nodes through these paths. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method effectively reduces energy consumption in the network while increasing reliability.
